• A farmer suicide prevention program was shuttered last fall when state funds ran out
  • A one-year federal grant has given the program a temporary reprieve
  • Michigan farmers have among the highest suicide rates in the state

A suicide prevention program for Michigan farmers that was defunded by the state last year is back in operation thanks to a one-year federal grant.

A $90,000Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network grant from the US Department of Agriculture was enough to restart the Managing Farm Stress counseling program in March. The program, managed by Michigan State University Extension, had been mothballed since last fall.

Many farmers who had previously received assistance through the service have returned for additional free counseling sessions aimed at reducing stress and the risk of suicide, said program Director Remington Rice.

That counseling could end again in September, when the federal grant is set to expire. Rice said he hopes the state will reinstate funding for the service in the upcoming 2026-27 budget.

“It literally saves lives,” Rice said. “We’ve had farmers tell us this is a life-saving program.”

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As reported in Bridge Michigan, farmers have one of the highest rates of suicide in Michigan — more than five times the overall state rate. That figure is likely an undercount, as some questionable deaths are tallied as accidental falls from silos and hunting mishaps, experts say.

Michigan’s farmer suicide crisis is part of national trend. Those who grow our food are under tremendous economic stress and many deal with guilt over potentially losing farms that have been in their families for generations, say counselors who have worked with farmers across Michigan through the farmer suicide prevention program.

That economic pressure has grown this year, with skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer costs making it more difficult for farms to turn a profit. 

In Michigan, 11 people working in farming, forestry and fishing died by suicide in 2023, the most recent year for which statewide data is available. Those involved in the collection of the data told Bridge that most deaths in that category each year are farm workers.

That’s a suicide rate of 84.5 per 100,000 workers, compared to an overall Michigan rate of 14.9. Farmer suicide rate was second in 2023 only to material moving workers, at 89 deaths per 100,000 workers.

The state did not renew funds for the farmer suicide prevention program in the 2025-26 budget approved in October. The program had paid for 550 therapy visits and reached more than 10,000 people across Michigan through educational presentations and workshops since 2020.

In the 2024-25 budget year, the program received $112,000 from the state.

After the program was defunded, farmers had to pay for counseling sessions out of their own pocket, with sessions typically costing $150 an hour. Many dropped out.

Now, “We’re up and running,” Rice said. “We were able to re-enroll a lot of people.”

Renewal of the federal grant is possible, but the suicide prevention program would be more stable if it had state funding, Rice said.

“No farmers, no food,” Rice said. “They’re critical to the economy in the state. We need to take care of them, especially now with changing costs in recent times.”

Several Midwestern states fund farm suicide prevention services. Iowa’s Farm Mental Health and Wellness Program offers free one-on-one counseling to farmers and ranchers, funded by a combination of federal and state funds. There is a similar program in Minnesota.

Funding has at least some bipartisan support. State Reps. Matt Beirlein, R-Vassar, and Jasper Martus, D-Flushing, released a statement urging the restoration of state mental health funding for farmers shortly after Bridge published an article about the issue in December

“As budget negotiations continue, I am hopeful we can get the funding for this program it deserves,” Bierlein told Bridge in a statement Thursday. “Michigan farmers are the backbone of our state, and deserve to know that help is available when they need it.”

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