I read this last night. Very disturbing. But, with the current state of our economy, not at all surprising. So, so, sad...

https://www.theguardian.com/us...

It is sad but in light of all the turmoil in the world I'm not surprised either.

OTOH, I grew up on a farm and it was hard work. Not necessarily where one ends up to make a good living.

In fact out of nine kids, not one of us became a farmer for that reason though many of us lived in the country and gardened. And my Dad also didn't want any of us to stay on the farm.

Not meaning to dabble around the edges of politics but that is why things like GMO products are coming about. Eventually, the govt will have to take it over to produce food for the masses as a small farmer cannot bear the burden.

Thanks for the link... I think.

When I was young/er, people for religious reasons found suicide to be something they would not do no matter how miserable they were.
There were some suicides up here and when spoken about outside of earshot of family members, those who committed it were not spoken of highly as poor, poor so and so, to the point, they were condemned as cowards and fools.

Many drank them selves into a early grave but burning in hell back then had a big impact on no suicide.
Now with TV and movies glorifying how WONDERFUL and OK it is to commit suicide, growing numbers of it are not surprising.
One study spoke of isolation, now I speak of Minn. so this would not apply to the SouthWest, but when I was young there were literally many corner bars, (beer joints up here)j, or country stores , where those out in the country would go to piss, moan and look for company outside of the same old, same old at home.
The same for country churches.
Those are gone now for decades already; no place for farmers to go outside of town which even in Minn. can be ten, twenty, forty , fifty plus miles away.
No Henry's Corners to bs about good , bad or other wise any more.
At the same time back then if the Sheriff, or even Highway Patrol found a farmer driving while intoxicated they were 3 out of 4 times told to go , escorted or simply taken home while being told if found on the road again they were going to jail, not automatically arrested and taken to jail.
I can remember there would be bottles of ponies sitting on the bar for the old timers who liked their beer warm and often they would be sitting at the end of the bar chatting away in their old country language.
It was like this at least through the eighties.

RpR, sounds like a nice trip down Nostalgia Lane, perhaps seen a bit through those infamous rose colored glasses. I'm in the Pacific NW, rural county. We still have small churches and corner bars, although the ubiquitous cell phones have rather done away with idle chit-chat. I'm not familiar with any show/movies that encourage suicide, but then I don't watch much except the news (often enough to drive one over the brink in itself). I do remember Dad openly drinking beers in the car and thinking nothing of it. I don't think he drove drunk, he just enjoyed a 'road beer' as he called it. Warm beer, ugh, not for me, despite my German-Irish heritage. I like my beer icy cold and clear (no micro brews for me).

In any event, the article is quite sobering. Having some farmer friends, it IS a difficult way to make a living. And their kids are often not so keen on following in their footsteps. My heart goes out to anyone who is so discouraged with life that suicide becomes a viable option.

Very sad that the smaller farms are struggling -- like so many other things (medicine comes to mind), farming has been taken over by big business. My ex came from a smallish dairy farm here in the UP; my in-laws sold the farm because it was time to retire, and yet it was still very sad to see the cows being auctioned off. I do think there is a niche for small farming operations though, it's just going to take some creativity and adjustment. CSA's, pick your own, artisan cheese, etc etc. Lots of things that I haven't even thought of, I'm sure. Transitional periods such as we are in now are always difficult.