Oregon Journalism Project: Oregon suicide rates for farming, fishing and forestry workers are five times the state average

OREGON — May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a national effort to educate people about depression, PTSD and other mental health conditions — including suicide. That effort is crucial for Oregon, where workers in agriculture, forestry and fishing have a suicide rate that is five times the state average, according to data from the Oregon Health Authority.

This finding predates the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, which has driven up fuel and fertilizer costs, adding yet another burden to the state’s 53,000 agriculture producers.

“When you compile the uncontrollable stressors like weather, the financial stress, the workload, and the long days these individuals have to put in to make a profit, it’s really a perfect storm for them,” says Tara Haskins, health director at the AgriSafe Network, which has a 24/7 crisis support line for people in agriculture. Its AgriStress Helpline for Oregon, one of only 11 such support groups nationally, is administered through the Oregon State University Extension Service.

“These people are known as hard workers — pull yourself up by your bootstraps — so the minute they have to admit or ask for help, it’s a very humbling and sometimes distressing position for them,” Haskins says.

For decades, Oregon has been among the handful of states, all in the West, that have the nation’s highest rates of suicide, research shows. Oregon’s overall suicide rate — 22 per 100,000 people — is more than 50% higher than the national average. 

When combining adults and youth, Oregon ranks worst in the nation for people experiencing mental illness in the past year, according to the 2025 State of Mental Health in America report.

Among age groups 15 and older, Oregon’s 15-to-19-year-olds have the lowest suicide rate, 12 per 100,000, while those 85 and older have the highest, 48 per 100,000. Still, that rate is only a fraction of the rate for farm, ranch, forestry and fishing workers — 123 per 100,000.

Contributing to the high rate, Haskins says, is the culture and structure of these rural industries. “These people work in isolation, long hours, and don't have great access to mental health care … and have very high rates of injury.”

In addition, farmers and ranchers often work for businesses that have been handed down for generations. Beyond the uncontrollable stresses of weather and fluctuating commodity prices, Haskins says, “they may also be under stress of loss of identity, loss of reputation” in their communities if they have to quit or go out of business.

In Oregon, between 2019-2023, the leading means of suicide was firearms (54%), followed by suffocation (25%).

The second-highest rates of suicide are found in the arts, design, sports and media, closely followed by the construction trades, according to OHA data.

Mental health resources:

People needing mental health support or thinking of harming themselves can dial 988, a free helpline that connects those in need with a counselor who listens to a caller’s situation and gives confidential, individualized support.

The AgriStress Helpline® is a free, confidential 24/7 crisis support and resource line for people working in agriculture, fishing, forestry, and logging that is available by phone or text message at 833-897-2474.