Suicides Among Farmers

This story is real disturbing. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), farmers commit suicide at twice the rate as the rest of the population. Reasons given are many and varied and tied directly to the exorbitant stresses placed on an individual who chooses farming as a livelihood. One curious aspect of farmer suicides is that they tend to occur between 6am and noon early in the week while general population suicides tend to happen on Friday and Saturday nights.

It should be noted that the U.S. is not the only country to experience elevated farmer suicide rates. In India, for example, an epidemic of farmer suicides in the recent past is considered to have dramatically impacted the political process by influencing the outcome of elections.