Climate change hurts the livelihoods and mental health of farmers

Farming has never been easy. Climate change—and the accompanying droughts, intense heat waves, worsening wildfires, and waves of new pests—is making it so much harder. Accompanying all these disasters is a challenge that many farmers don’t want to talk about: the mental health toll of watching their way of life come under increasing threat. Climate anxiety and stress is putting additional pressure on a community that prizes self-reliance, writes Civil Eats. And many rural communities also have limited mental health resources. But, in a glimmer of good news, research shows that farmers who transition to more sustainable methods of agriculture experience better job satisfaction and reduced stress—benefits that might boost their mental health, while also improving the long-term prospects of their farms.