Cyle Stewart answers audience questions at the Holistic Management conference in Assiniboia, Sask., Feb. 2025.

Producer shares personal struggles

Rancher and mental health advocate, Cyle Stewart, offers producers mental health strategies

Farmers’ mental health is likely to take a hit during times of stress such as market uncertainty and trade barriers brought on by tariffs, disease outbreaks and other geopolitical issues.

A young male farmer stares at large round bales in the distance.

Mental health counselling offered to producers

AgKnow breaking down the barriers to mental health access for farmers

Given the physical demands that agriculture has with the weighty responsible of feeding the world, sometimes the mental weight of such a huge responsibility can be pushed aside.


A graphic using cogs to illustrate the various elements of a business plan.

Written business plan called key to farm success

Farms can be complicated because producers wear so many hats; they should develop tactics under each to ensure success

Farmers with a written business plan average returns on their assets five times higher than those who don’t put pen to paper.



U.S. president Donald Trump speaks to the press at the White House.

Farmers juggle mental health in face of Trump tariffs

Uncertainty might have been harder on farmer mental health than confirmed tariffs, experts say

Glacier FarmMedia – Months spent under a hammer of threatened U.S. tariffs have been hard on farmers. According to one farm mental health advocate, the lack of clarity may be even worse for farmer mental states than confirmed bad news. Follow all our coverage of the tariffs situation here Volatile periods tend to take a […] Read more

Gerry Friesen, chief administrative officer of the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program, stands at the program’s booth at Ag Days in 2024.

Man. mental health program receives charitable status

The Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program provides counselling services specific to farmers, their families and employees

Glacier FarmMedia – The Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program is now a registered charity recognized by the Canada Revenue Agency. Founded in October 2021, the program provides up to nine confidential counselling sessions per year to farmers, their families and farm employees. Sessions are delivered by professional counsellors with agricultural backgrounds. The program’s counselling services began […] Read more

Farmer Tim May kneels in some lush, green grass with some dairy cattle behind him.

Farmer works to make mental health a priority

An Ontario dairy farmer says stressors and stigma affect producers, but there are ways for the community to help

Glacier FarmMedia – Rates of depression, anxiety and chronic stress are high among Canadian farmers, and in many cases they are higher than the general population. Addressing these issues is the work of Tim May, Ontario dairy farmer and self-styled “agvocate” for farmer mental health. May spoke at the virtually hosted National Symposium on Agricultural […] Read more


The arts offer a pathway to situation acknowledgement that is personal and preserves individual dignity. A poem, play or painting will have diverse meanings to different people. | Getty Images

The arts can help encourage personal reflection in agriculture

In the Australian play entitled Kick Off Ya Boots, the actors and characters are farmers who talk about the farm with love and humour while finding their own path within their own fence lines. One deeply moving scene starts with farmer Harry: “Sometimes it’s like I’m driving a truckload of cattle down a road. And […] Read more

A company that sells mineral blends for horses also wants to draw attention to mental health in the equine sector.  |  File photo

Horse venture opens doors

REGINA — Taylor Douglas is well known in the horse world, but these days you might find him on a reality TV show or advocating for mental health. It’s all because of a three-month-old business that started with a horse mineral. Earlier this fall, he and his partner, Jayne Trimble, started Happy Horses, a company […] Read more