From floods and droughts to market crashes and family strain, Iowa farmers face a range of challenges that go far beyond the fields. A recent Iowa State University study analyzing these effects was led by postdoctoral research associate Chris Morris and an Iowa State professor in sociology and criminal justice, J. Gordon Arbuckle, Jr.
Morris and Arbuckle’s study, “The Effects of Collective Trauma on Iowa Farmers, Their Communities, and Sustainability Outcomes,” explores how hardships, known as collective trauma, affect farmers’ mental health, decision-making, conservation practices and the long-term sustainability of Iowa agriculture and rural communities.
Morris conducted interviews with farmers and behavioral health professionals across the state to better understand the social and emotional dimensions of agricultural life.
“There’s a lot of pressure on farmers to be more sustainable and improve their operations,” Morris said. “But we have to understand how complicated those pressures are. Economic threats, extreme weather and the erosion of rural communities all have a huge impact on how farmers make decisions.”
Morris defines collective trauma as the psychological and social effects experienced by a group in response to a shared traumatic event.
For farmers, those events often include physical threats such as floods, droughts and tornadoes; economic pressures like volatile crop prices and high input costs; and social disruptions such as population decline and the loss of community institutions.
During interviews, farmers described experiences that mirrored systems of post-traumatic stress, recurring bad dreams, anxiety, depression and sleeplessness. Many also recounted the strain of intergenerational farm transitions and community breakdowns caused by consolidation and depopulation.
“Every single farmer I interviewed had a story about a suicide in their community,” Morris said. “That was one of the most striking findings. It really highlighted that what we’re talking about isn’t just stress, it’s trauma.”
Given the sensitive nature of the topics, Morris took precautions to ensure participants felt comfortable and protected. He spent up to 45 minutes building rapport with each farmer before discussing difficult experiences, avoiding using the word “trauma” directly to reduce stigma and providing mental health resources afterward.
The research was conducted in collaboration with the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll, a long-running survey directed by Arbuckle that tracked quality of life and stress levels among farmers. Questions about trauma and coping strategies were added to the poll to complement Morris’s interviews.
“Farmers have this reputation for being stoic,” Arbuckle said. “But when you sit down and show genuine interest in their history and operations, they open up. Talking about their experiences can actually be really effective in helping them cope.”
The study found that trauma can influence farmers’ willingness or ability to adopt conservation practices. Some traumatic experiences, like soil loss during floods, motivated them to take stronger action to protect their land. Others, however, became more risk-averse.
One farmer, Morris recalled, wanted to plant cover crops across all his acres but hesitated because of his father’s memories of the 1980s farm crisis.
“He heard his dad’s voice in the back of his mind saying, ‘You might need that money when the next crisis hits,’” Morris said.
Arbuckle noted that this survival mindset can lead to short-term decisions that compromise long-term sustainability.
“When trauma pushes farmers toward short-term economic survival, it can come at the expense of soil health and conservation,” Arbuckle said.
While Morris didn’t find major differences in how generations talk about trauma, he observed how traumatic experiences can be passed down. Farmers who grew up hearing stories from parents who survived the Great Depression or the 1980s farm crisis often carried that inherited anxiety into their own decision-making.
“Even if they didn’t experience those crises directly, the fear and caution get passed along,” Morris said. “That’s how trauma becomes intergenerational.”
For those outside the agricultural world, Morris and Arbuckle hope the study encourages more empathy and awareness.
“It’s not as simple as asking farmers to be more sustainable,” Morris said. “They’re facing multiple pressures, economic, environmental and emotional. We need to approach farmers in trauma-informed ways and provide better mental health support in rural communities.”
Arbuckle added that farming is unique because of its deep generational ties and constant exposure to uncontrollable factors like weather and global markets.
“Farmers can’t leave their work at the office,” Arbuckle said. “Their livelihood and identity are tied to the land.”
Both researchers emphasized one takeaway for farmers: they’re not alone.
“Other farmers are experiencing similar things,” Morris said. “There are resources out there, mental health professionals, crisis hotlines and even talking with other farmers can help. And as researchers, we’re committed to understanding those experiences so we can better support them and their communities.”
The full study can be found here.