Guilt, panic and hopelessness are becoming familiar emotions for farmers facing increasingly extreme weather, according to new University of Guelph research examining how climate change is affecting mental health in the agricultural community.
The findings are based on in-depth interviews with 36 Ontario farmers conducted by Rochelle Thompson, a PhD candidate in the university’s Department of Population Medicine. Thompson spoke with farmers between March 2023 and May 2024, all of whom had experienced climate-related disasters, including prolonged droughts, disease outbreaks, or damage from severe weather events.
“I heard about the overwhelming, all-encompassing nature of extreme weather crises,” Thompson said. “A lot of people don’t even know what the first step is in situations like that.”
