A topic that’s been taboo on the farm for generations is increasingly in the public eye, with industry veterans and expert advisors testing and sharing a wealth of rural mental health responses.
Helena resident Karl Rosston, the suicide prevention coordinator at Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services since the post’s creation nearly 20 years ago, recalled the many times he’d returned from a work trip and landed at Bozeman airport in the wee hours.
“Just about every single time that I drive from Bozeman to Helena at midnight, there are farmers working the field at one o’clock in the morning – just about every time, I see it,” he said during last weekend’s Old Salt Festival on the Mannix Ranch, an hour northeast of Helena.
This prompts him to think about the market pressures ranchers and farmers face, the chronic pain, the machinery breakdowns, the lack of health insurance, not to mention the access to lethal means and the heavy burden of keeping their operations running after three, four, five generations. Yet even today, in 2026, very few are able to discuss these issues with anybody.
“Boy, do we have a long way to go still,” he said. “We’re just now scratching the surface of it. There’s so many people that are still so afraid of talking about this issue. And we have to talk about it. The farm and ranch community, the rural communities, we have to start to talk about it. We have to get over the stigma around this issue because we’re losing too many people to it.”
From there, Old Salt’s mental health panel presented an array of responses to a crisis that has left farmers and ranchers struggling with more stress than nearly every other profession and made them about four times more likely than the general population to commit suicide.
Emily Swisher, the panel moderator and a Colorado-based clinical therapist and equine therapy provider, called for normalizing such situations.
“When I have clients who might be struggling with depressive or anxious symptoms, I just like to remind them, depression and anxiety are normal responses to abnormal situations,” she said. “It is normal to feel depressed, to grieve when we are experiencing loss. It is normal to have anxiety if we are stressed or uncertain about our financial security, housing, or a secure future.”
Rizpah Bellard of Nova Farming, a northern California ranch and farming education provider, advised those around people facing mental and emotional challenges to simply listen.
“For those who are not dealing with pain, I think it’s important to hold space,” she said. “Make sure that you’re somebody who is just maybe not saying anything, you’re just listening. You’re not judging. And then you ask, do you want feedback? Do you want some suggestions? Or do you want me to sit here and listen?”
Two other panelists similarly underscored the value of human connections and conversation. Ben Minden, founder of the Bear Hug Cattle Company, which trains military veterans for jobs in ranching, said that one of his U.S. Army unit’s rules – never eat alone – helped in ag as well.
“Such a big part of how we spend the summer is just 10 minutes eating breakfast” or an hour for lunch, he said. “It just takes effort, and sometimes you just gotta set your pride aside and go drag the old crusty rancher down the road for dinner.”
Kim Paul, the founder of Piikani Lodge, a Blackfeet Reservation nonprofit that assists more than 70 agricultural producers, in addition to other initiatives, pointed out that it’s often just a crisis moment in which somebody needs help, rather than an extended commitment.
“If it means having a cup of coffee with someone who you think is down or someone who’s lost a friend or a child or a father or their ranch is going under, take the time,” she said. “Take the time to be with them and tell them that you’re their resource, that you’re there.”
In terms of resources at-hand, most ranchers have extended family, a local community, neighbors or fellow ranchers to lean on. Bellard recalled growing up on a ranch with two brothers.
“I’ve been bucked off and told to get back up when I was crying. To be an ag, to be a rancher, to be a cowboy, it’s really to be rough and tough,” said the Cornell University grad, underscoring the generation gap as well as the gender gap.
“My dad doesn’t go to therapy. He’s like, you know, just keep pushing,” she added. “But I’m like, Dad, I’m a girl. I’m young. I’m black. All my friends are from the city, so they like to talk about feelings…I do all the tough stuff, but I also hurt. I also feel alone. I also need a safe space.”
As with Bellard’s father, Boulder-area rancher Trudy Dawson still sees a gender gap in terms of a willingness to discuss mental troubles. “I think men still are more reticent to talk about those things, even amongst younger generations,” she said in a recent interview.
Bellard has found a way to blend rough cowboy ways with modern sensitivities. After all, she often needs a deep well of patience and understanding to handle her tenants at the two independent living homes she runs for the troubled and unhoused.
“Being kind of an example of that duality that can exist – being tough, being capable, and showing emotions – does not negate any of your other achievements in this rough and tough world,” said Bellard. “In fact, sometimes holding those two opposing forces almost creates more of this leadership or awe of people that we do want to follow.”
Rosston acknowledged ranchers’ isolation – working long hours, often alone, and with no neighbors for miles – and DPHHS’ limited access. “They’re not going to go to the doctor, and they’re hard to reach,” he said. “We don’t have the mental health resources in Montana, in rural communities.”
As a result, the state’s outreach increasingly relies on leveraging advocates and local professionals. Rosston’s team has begun working with agricultural extension offices around the state, and with credit unions and banks in smaller towns. They’ve begun to revitalize Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts, to offer support and services.
They’re encouraging rural clinics and emergency services to be more pro-active in reaching out to farmers and ranchers. “One of the programs we’re starting to do is with first responders in rural communities,” said Rosston. “When they respond to a call for someone who is at high risk of suicide, we’re able to give them an iPad and connect them immediately with telehealth and a mental health professional.”
Paul saw this as a great option for those in remote locations, who may not be entirely comfortable with therapy. “Thinking about ranchers and isolation, this is a tool that you can access on your phone, in your truck; it doesn’t have to be in front of anybody,” she said. “You don’t have to walk into a mental or behavioral health office. You could just be out in the mountains or in the plains and you could talk to someone and express those feelings and get some tools to get through it.”