Farmer suicides spiking under Trump

In 2018 the Rapid City Journal blamed the South Dakota Republican Party for spikes in suicides and depression then a Sanford Health executive did the same in 2019. That year South Dakota ranked 6th highest in the nation for suicides reporting more than 22 self-administered terminations per 100,000 people or an increase of 59% since 1999 and the 11th highest increase in any state. But, during the Biden years even employment in the red moocher state improved and suicides decreased dramatically. 

So, a cynical observer might suspect bankers provided gloomy outlooks to the Rural Mainstreet Index in 2024 especially in midwestern swing states to sink Democratic Party prospects just as Republicans in congress stalled immigration reform because it makes sense to Earth haters that after he was elected again the Orange Julius would run America into the dirt so banks can foreclose on the whole dealio then massage auction price points.

Now, even in Utah where the Church of Latter-Day Saints is more a social contract than a religion, suicide rates are an increasing concern after Trump's agriculture department ended support for the Farm Ranch Stress Assistance Program. And, with the Trump Organization blowing up health care farmers are taking themselves out at much higher rates again and even the Earth hating American Farm Bureau Federation is panicking. In eastern Colorado where Trump won big farmers have been cut from mental health resources, too.

Agricultural producers have endured several years of very low commodity prices, inflation on things like fertilizer and pesticides, rising consolidation in the marketplace, avian flu and the mounting effects of climate change. And if that weren’t enough, now the Trump administration is imposing on-again, off-again tariffs (which did serious damage to farms during his first term), cancelling food aid programs and energy project payouts, targeting immigrant farm workers and firing federal employees who deliver critical services, from pest research to weather information. The situation is primed for another rash of mental health emergencies in the rural US. [Farmers face one of the highest rates of suicide. This social worker believes the solution is buried in their land]

Learn more at NPR.