A hotline intended to help farming families struggling with anxiety and depression received 54 calls and four texts last year, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

The AgriStress HelpLine for Pennsylvania, which launched in February 2022, is a free 24-hour, 7-days-a-week hotline created specifically for farmers and their families.

“They actually understand farmers can’t take a vacation,” said Brittany Speer, a farmer and member of Butler County Farm Bureau. “There’s no such thing as, just take the next two weeks off.”

Most farmers don’t get a break from worrying about crop yields, milk prices or their flocks surviving avian flu, she explained.

The helpline, 833-897-AGRI (2474), is administered by the nonprofit AgriSafe Network and funded through a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network.

Hotline counselors have backgrounds in agriculture that give them the insight needed to understand the pressures of farming.

Stress is a byproduct of agriculture that can develop at any time of the year in any type of farming operation, Speer said. Uneasiness over calving, crop production, milk production and prices can exact a toll on farmers. Crop farmers rely on harvests from spring to fall for enough profit to sustain their families all year long.

“I know people who used (the hotline). The people who have used it said it has been helpful,” Speer said. “I hope more people take advantage of those free resources and get the help that they need.”

She said the farm bureau promotes the hotline.

The state Department of Agriculture also promotes the hotline, and has a list of signs that could indicate a farmer is having mental health issues. The signs are a decline in care of crops, animals and farm; deterioration of personal appearance; withdrawing from social events; increase in farm accidents; change in routine or habit; increased physical complaints; increase in alcohol use; and giving away prized possessions.

The department urges family or friends of farmers not to wait for them to ask for help.

“If they’re willing to reach out, encourage them,” the department said in its promotion of the hotline.