Taking a day off from work is a luxury that farmers cannot afford.

This particular reality is something that Cameron Huftalen is all too familiar with, having grown up in a family of farmers in Henniker.

With Huftalen’s grandparents working on a dairy farm, they saw first-hand the unrelenting dedication it took to keep things running smoothly. From the early morning milking of cows to the careful scheduling of a never-ending list of daily tasks, Huftalen recalls the constant attention and hard work that was required to make a farm thrive.

“You can’t just sleep in and not do it,” said Huftalen, a project manager with Vital Communities who also works with Kearsarge Food Hub, a Bradford nonprofit dedicated to creating a sustainable and resilient local food system. “There’s always something to do, always a next step and something to fix.”

Despite the romanticized picture of farming as a peaceful, laid-back lifestyle, the reality is far from idyllic. The persistent pressure of managing their farm – tending to crops and livestock, fixing fences and maintaining equipment – and ensuring its success, can leave farmers feeling overwhelmed, stressed and anxious. The mental toll of these tasks can be just as challenging as the physical demands.

Furthermore, farmers in rural areas may encounter additional barriers to seeking mental health services, which is exacerbated by the cultural expectation that they are strong-willed and industrious.

“The agrarian culture really is, ‘Pick yourself up by your bootstraps and don’t whine, work hard and all will be well,’ ” said Seth Wilner, who works with the Farm Strong NH, a program with the UNH Cooperative Extension to help farmers with mental health, financial and legal issues. “That is the culture passed down from generation to generation and so they’re really not prone to seek help.”

The Farm Strong NH program is a partnership between the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture and the UNH Cooperative Extension, funded by a $550,000 federal grant. One component of the initiative is a direct service for farmers, which involves therapy sessions. The program has a working partnership with 17 on-boarded therapists.

Farm succession, taxes and financial profitability have been recognized as some of the main root causes of farmer stress, according to Wilner, who works with farmers through the program.

In New Hampshire, farmers are reliant on direct consumer sales; either the customer comes to the farm or the customer buys their produce from a local farmer’s market. Consumer instability year over year can be difficult for farmers.

There are some farmers in the state who have not raised their prices in the last decade, despite the significant fluctuations in inflation.

“I think that there’s a perception in the public, or at least, like a habit of paying very little for particular produce,” said Pierre Hahn, farm manager and co-founder of Kearsarge Food Hub. “Even grains are extremely cheap; they’re just very cheap relative to the cost of producing them, particularly in a way that is regenerative and sustainable.”

Unlike other jobs, agricultural work poses unique stressors for farmers, many of which are outside of their control. Moreover, the job’s demands leave little room for weekends or breaks, particularly during the growing season, when stepping away can prove challenging.

Hahn turned to farming as a way to reconnect with the earth and the food he consumed, once he realized how disconnected he had become from nature.

Despite Hahn’s passion for farming and teaching children about it, his mental well-being is sometimes affected by the unpredictability of nature and the curve balls it throws his way, even though this year marks his 11th season.

In February of last year, when the temperature dropped below freezing, winds blew down the nursery door on Hahn’s farm. The following morning, when he entered the nursery, he found all the crops that he had painstakingly planted had been frozen.

“Nature kind of does its thing,” said Hahn, explaining that incidents like this can make or break a season for farmers.” She (nature) is going to take what she’s going to take, and so the ups and downs are always there.”

Although Hahn initially felt devastated, he refrained from dwelling on the situation and instead stepped away to process the situation.

After some time, he returned to consider the next steps forward. But most farmers don’t have a process to deal with such situations, he said.

Hahn believes that the farming community has not adequately addressed the need for resources to support mental health, cope with setbacks, manage anxiety, and run a successful farming business.

“You work long hours and work hard – there’s a beautiful quality to that,” said Hahn about farming. “It would be nice to balance that drive with self-care.”

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