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On a cloudy day on a crop farm north of Reno, Nev., Zach Cannady tilts his head toward the sky and smiles. That鈥檚 because it鈥檚 starting to rain, which wasn鈥檛 in the forecast.
鈥淭his time of year, it鈥檚 everything, you know,鈥� Cannady says. 鈥淵our body heat gets so hot out here anyway, so that, you know when the rain comes down, it cools everything down. I'm sure the plants love it. We love it.鈥�
Cannady owns Prema Farms, a stone鈥檚 throw into California, tucked in the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. It grows a colorful mix of crops 鈥� carrots, kale, peppers, onions, melons and more. And harvests have been strong recently thanks to and more frequent rain.
But Cannady, who has a wife and two kids, knows that can change fast in farming.
鈥淥ur lives are at the whim of nature,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t leans on you and asks you, 鈥極K, do I want to keep doing this? Or are you prepared for another season of loss? Or can you even handle that financially?鈥欌��
Cannady asked himself those questions in 2019 after a wildfire chewed onto his property and his family had to evacuate. And again in 2021 when a wildfire cloaked their farm in heavy smoke for more than a month.
After both events, some crops didn鈥檛 produce, including an entire field of onions, 鈥渨hich, for us, is $30,000 鈥� 10% of our gross annual income,鈥� he says.
Anxiety over wildfire and extreme weather is just one of the many issues that can affect a farmer鈥檚 mental health. Other major stressors are finances due to rising production costs, work-life balance from heavy workloads, and family issues. That鈥檚 according to a recent led by the University of Nevada, Reno.
Researchers surveyed agricultural producers across several Western states, including Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
鈥淲e're in a situation where the farmer-rancher suicide rate is six times higher than the general population,鈥� said Brenda Freeman, a professor of counseling who co-authored the study. 鈥淎nd the Western states, including Nevada, have the highest suicide mortality rates in the nation.鈥�
Twenty-seven percent of the farmers surveyed for the study suffer from moderate to severe depression. The national average is 8%.
鈥淔armers and ranchers, they normalize stress, like, 鈥極f course, you're going to have drought and pests and problems. We're farmers 鈥� that's what we do,鈥欌�� Freeman says.
The study aims to help farmers and ranchers shed that mindset and address their stress. It found they want more access to online and printed resources and programs.
鈥淭hey wanted mental health education more than mental health counseling,鈥� Freeman says. 鈥淕rief and loss information, alcohol and drug cessation, they wanted information on financial planning.鈥�
Freeman said the study is part of a larger push by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support Western farmers and ranchers.
The effort comes as the is increasing 鈥� as it has nearly every year for the past 25-plus years, said Zach Ducheneaux, administrator of the USDA鈥檚 Farm Service Agency.
鈥淔or a producer that functions as a ticking time bomb,鈥� said Ducheneaux, whose family operates a fourth-generation ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. 鈥淵ou're one natural disaster, one trade war, one poor production season away from being on the edge of losing the farm.鈥�
He said that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 important for producers to seek help if their mental health is suffering.
鈥淭here's no shame in it,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd there's a lot of folks that have vast expertise in providing that shoulder to lean on or that ear.鈥�
Back on the farm north of Reno, Cannady pushes a battery-powered hand tiller over soil that will be planted with gooseberries.
He said the day鈥檚 rain was a nice surprise. But he gets anxious when he sees lightning, which sparks most wildfires in the West. His mind goes back to seeing nearby blazes creep closer.
鈥淭here's an element of PTSD that's lingering there that kind of gives you the flashback of what the experience was like the last time that happened, and you packed up everything, got your kids and your family into the car,鈥� he says.
Cannady hopes they鈥檒l get through this wildfire season without being affected. And he鈥檒l continue to welcome the occasional rainy day.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the . Go to for a list of resources and other information.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureaud, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau is provided in part by the .