Steven Potter:
What can happen when farmers don't get the help they need and they don't seek help for the stress and the time management issues and the other mental health challenges?

Karen Endres:
When farmers don't take care of their emotional wellness, it becomes very challenging. The number one thing they do is — we call 'em negative coping mechanisms — is they self-isolate. So, they're isolating. They also overwork. So you overwork — they think, "If I can just get three more things done today, if I can just work harder." They're already working 365 days a year and many are putting in 12, 14, 16-hour days, and they're like, "If I can just work a little bit more." And then sometimes they turn to substances as well, which is a common coping mechanism. If you are overworked and you're tired, you're just not taking care of yourself. Instead of turning to those positive things — healthy nutrition, hydration, sleep, community, doing those things that you love, social activities, those are our positive coping mechanisms — but often in farming, because we're in small rural communities and we were born, you know, we started working when we were toddlers — you were feeding your first bottle calf or out there riding with your dad on the tractor, and that's all you know — and so you just keep putting in the work and the long hours to do the job and to do it well because we have that pressure, too, of the legacy of the farm. The farms have been handed down, and it's a pride thing. Our farms have been handed down for multiple generations, and so you want to keep that farm going. But sometimes it's not. Maybe it's urban expansion out onto your land. Maybe the markets have changed. Maybe your local cheese plant doesn't exist anymore, so now you have to pay a lot to have your milk hauled. There's a lot of circumstances on maybe why you shouldn't keep your business as it is, and so all of those things add a lot of pressure to today's farmers.