Consecutive years of drought followed by the BSE crisis have tightened the vise around prairie farmers’ psyches, but have these problems led to more farmer suicides?
There’s a short answer: no one knows.
“I’d be very interested in knowing that,” said Will Pickett, a Queen’s University doctor who studies suicide patterns. “I think more research in that area would be an important tool in prevention.”
Suicide and depression are not only taboo subjects with many rural people, they are also little studied by the few farm stress experts in Canada and the United States.
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Pickett studied Canadian farmer suicides between 1971 and 1987, finding that in those years the suicide rate among farmers was slightly lower than the overall Canadian rate.
However, he said the stress caused by recent crises could have changed that.
American rural psychologist Michael Rosmann said more research is needed in Canada to see if prairie farmers reflect what appears to be a universal pattern of farmer suicide.
“The suicide rate has increased … in every country in the world when there’s more stress on the farm,” said Rosmann, who works for an Iowa rural mental health organization called Agriwellness Inc.
“If we collect that data, it would surprise me if there has not been an increase in suicides as the farm economy (in Western Canada) has fallen apart a bit.”
There is a vast difference between farmer suicide rates in Canada and the United States. Rosmann said American rates tend to be about double the national rate, and in extremely bad times on the farm, such as the 1980s farm crisis in the U.S. Midwest, it reached four times the national average.
In Canada, statistics so far show farmers no more likely than anyone else to commit suicide. Between 1971 and 1987, Pickett’s research found a suicide rate of 24 per 100,000 farmers, compared to 26.5 per 100,000 people in the general population.
There are few well-developed theories about this difference.
Ken Imhoff, manager of the rural stress unit with Saskatchewan Agriculture, said the Canadian medicare system may help some farmers who suffer from depression or other illnesses.
“When you have to take out of your own pocket your health-care costs (in the U.S.) … it’s another stressor,” he said.
“Could it be access to services that is different?”
He also speculated that some farm “accidents” may not be accidents at all, but disguised suicides.
“Could it be under reporting?” Imhoff said. “These are good questions that need to be answered.”
