OUR REASON

The Georgia Agricultural Wellness Alliance was established in response to the prevalence of mental health challenges experienced by farm families and communities.

In 2022, a survey was sent to more than 1,650 farmers, spouses, farm managers & farm workers from all regions of the state to assess farm stress.

Some of the results were:

• 29% of farmers reported thinking about suicide at least once a month. Among first-generation farmers, that figure rose to 46%​
• Almost half of the participants reported experiencing loneliness, sadness, and depression at least once a month and almost 40% reported feeling hopeless each month​
• 60% reported a lack of access to basic medical care and 50%+ reported not having health insurance of any kind ​

These results and more were published in a study by researchers with the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center at the Mercer University School of Medicine & The Georgia Foundation for Agriculture​.