Farmer mental health is at the forefront in Saskatchewan

Jun 28, 2017

’Suicide is real,’ tweeted Kim Keller

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

One tweet from a Gronlid, Saskatchewan farmer has sparked conversations on mental health within the province’s agricultural community.

“#Ag we gotta do more. I received a message yesterday that kept me up thinking of how we do more. Farm stress is real. Suicide is real,” Kim Keller posted on Twitter on June 24.

Keller spoke out after receiving a message that a family is looking for resources after a member of the province’s agricultural community took their own life.

Her initial tweet gained momentum, with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall reaching out to Keller and asking her to contact the provincial Ministry of Agriculture.

“I have lost count of the direct messages, texts and phone calls I’ve received from people sharing their stories and offering to help and support any way they can,” Keller said in a June 27 APAS release. “This shows me that as an industry we are ready to tackle this issue head on.”

Facing the tough spring in Saskatchewan this year could be a first for producers and contribute to high stress.

“It’s been a tough year,” Todd Lewis, president of APAS, said in the statement. “We need to keep talking about this. We know our producers are feeling the pressure.”

The issue of mental health within agriculture has been studied in detail over the last few years on both sides of the border.

Earlier in the month, University of Iowa research concluded 230 members of America’s agricultural community committed suicide between 1992 and 2010.

Self-reliance, personal illness, long work days, loneliness and isolation are factors that could lead a farmer to self-harm, according to the research.

And in 2016, research from the University of Guelph indicated Canadian farmers are vulnerable to mental health issues.

More than 1,000 producers from across the country participated in the 2015 study on mental health.

45 per cent of respondents said they had high stress. And 35 per cent were classified with depression.

“What makes me the most upset is that I have everything I dreamed of – love, family and a farm – and all I feel is overwhelmed, out of control and sad,” one respondent said, according to researcher Andria Jones-Bitton.

There are a number of resources available across Canada and the United States for people in need.

Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.