Farm Stress Management

Farm Stress Management

Farm families are the backbone of America, providing important commodities like food, grains, and they are a significant component of our national economy. Having healthy farms and healthy farm families promotes environmental stewardship, cultural legacies, and rural community growth.

But farm families are feeling the pressure of an inconsistent and unreliable economy. Finances, legal issues, and physical and mental well-being are all at the forefront of agricultural concerns. Farmers have been forced to parcel off their land, file for bankruptcy, deny their children inherency rights, and take secondary jobs off the farm to provide health insurance and supplemental income to make ends meet.

These stressors can lead to mental and emotional distress, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, and even suicide.

Because of the critical role of farmers in our state and across the nation, the University of Maryland Extension has prepared this selection of assets to help farm families navigate the numerous resources available online and provide timely, science-based education and information to support prosperous farms and healthy farm families.

Choose from Financial Resources, Stress Management, or Legal Resources to find a variety of online information, guides, and tools developed to help in each of these areas. As more tools are developed, these pages will be updated to reflect current information and serve as a support for highlighting future workshops and programming.

Video length: 2:26

Free Therapy Services for Farm Families

Six free therapy session either in person or teletherapy. We will help you set up your appointment, connect with the provider and access your session. Complete the intake form at go.umd.edu/farmtherapy and we will reach out to you. 

  • A picturesque landscape from Kent County

    Stress Management

  • Coins with clock in the background

    Financial Resources

  • Person stands on a green agriculture roof with the D.C. monument in the distance

    Legal Resources

  • Pain pills

    Resource Directory

  • Rural health

    News and Video Library

  • Class listening to a PowerPoint presentation

    Training

Learn more about UM Extension's work in cooperation with the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension in their publication Farm and Farm Family Risk and Resilience Guide to Extension Educational Programming, as well as other resources in their agribusiness toolkit.