What are women farmers most stressed about? A UI study found out

Heavy workloads, market instability and environmental concerns top the list of stressors for women farmers in Iowa, according to recent University of Iowa research.

Since the Farm Crisis in the 1980s, there has been more research about mental health among farmers and ranchers. Most studies predominantly focused on men, leaving a big gap in knowledge about female farmers’ stress levels.

Carly Nichols, a UI assistant professor of geographical and sustainability sciences, and her collaborator, Jonathan Davis, a UI research assistant professor of occupational and environmental health, wanted to fill in some blanks.

From November 2020 to February 2021, the team sent out surveys to women farmers who qualified as farm operators. The surveys asked respondents to consider the impacts of different stressors — a 36-item list the research team created and dubbed the Women Farmer Stress Inventory. The women would rate each item from 1, indicating no stress, to 5, indicating extreme stress.

Both researchers analyzed the data from nearly 600 respondents to identify primary stressors. Their results, published November in the peer-reviewed Journal of Rural Health, uncovered some of the most impactful factors to women farmers’ mental health.

The category most stressful to respondents revolved around time pressure and workload. Many women farmers — especially younger ones — said they juggled too many tasks and didn’t have enough time to properly complete them. They also said high workloads meant they didn’t have enough time to spend with loved ones or to take care of themselves.

External stressors also played major roles. Such factors included market instability, difficulties making profits, uncertainty about federal farm policies and fear of making mistakes with marketing decisions. Concern about health insurance also ranked high, which Nichols said deviates from similar previous studies about male farmers.

“Health insurance really cut across the whole small farm/large farm, younger/older divide” of their data set, she said. “It also could be contributing to time stress if women have to go and maintain employment, not just for financial reasons but for health insurance reasons.”

Many respondents noted stress about environmental issues, like uncertainty with climate change impacts, weather unpredictability, increased droughts and soil fertility. Women with smaller farms were more likely to be more stressed about this category, Nichols said.

Several also showed concerns about their interpersonal relationships, like feeling obligated to continue a family farm or dealing with a farm ownership transition.

The stressors that ranked the lowest — or, least stressful — were about rural amenities like nearby health services, shops and community.

“I found that interesting because there's a lot of press around closures of hospitals,” Nichols said. “It highlights the need to listen to the voices of people that are there.” She also noted that farmers aren’t the only residents in rural communities and aren’t wholly representative of rural perspectives.

Nichols noted that the study captured data on women farmers who own their farmland, so it isn’t representative of the stressors that new and beginning farmers experience.

The findings indicate a need for future research. Nichols suggested studies that directly compare male and female farmers’ stress levels. She also wants to explore the gray area of what defines women farmers versus women landowners.

“Women in row crop production agriculture — I think they are largely overlooked,” she said. “It was just really interesting to hear their perspectives about being a woman in this very male-dominated industry.”

Brittney J. Miller is the Energy & Environment Reporter for The Gazette and a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Comments: (319) 398-8370; brittney.miller@thegazette.com