Farmers are People: A Revolutionary Insight into Farmer Suicide Risk with Lanie Doerr
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Reference: Impact Farming
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Farmers are People: A Revolutionary Insight into Farmer Suicide Risk with Lanie Doerr
What if we’ve been looking at farmer suicide risk from the wrong perspective?
In this episode of The Impact Farming Show, host Tracy sits down with Lanie Doerr, a licensed professional counselor, to discuss her book Farmers are People: A Revolutionary Insight into Farmer Suicide Risk.
Lanie challenges the widely held belief that farmers have fundamentally different psychological risk factors than the general population. She argues that while the business pressures of farming— extreme weather, high land prices, low grain prices and other financial challenges —can create tremendous stress, it is the resulting personal problems and psychological factors that need to be better understood when we talk about depression and suicide.
Drawing on both her experience as a farmer and her professional background as a mental health therapist, Lanie offers a different way of thinking about farmer mental health—and, importantly, a message of hope for farmers, ranchers and their families.
In This Episode
- Why Lanie believes farmers are people first when it comes to understanding mental health and suicide risk
- What she believes the agriculture industry has gotten wrong about farmer suicide
- The difference between business problems and personal problems
- How financial, weather and farm business pressures can ultimately affect a person's mental health
- Why farmers may be reluctant to talk about personal struggles
- The psychological factors that can contribute to depression and suicide risk
- Why the traditional conversation around farmer mental health may need to change
- How family members and friends can recognize when someone may be struggling
- The connection between the farmer mindset of independence and asking for help
- Why Lanie believes this different perspective can open the door to more effective strategies for improving farmer health
- A message of hope for farmers and farm families who may be struggling
Why This Conversation Matters
For years, we’ve talked about farmer mental health through the lens of stressors unique to agriculture. But what if that focus is actually preventing us from seeing the bigger picture?
Lanie Doerr’s work challenges us to rethink how we understand farmer suicide risk and to look beyond the farm business itself to the person sitting behind the desk, driving the tractor or sitting at the kitchen table. Her perspective suggests that farming’s business challenges can contribute to the same personal struggles that affect people across society—and that recognizing this could open the door to more effective ways of preventing depression and suicide.
This is an important conversation for every farmer, farm family and agricultural professional. Listen to the full episode, share it with someone in your farming community, and help start a different conversation about farmer mental health.
Thanks for tuning in,
Tracy
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🔗SHOW RESOURCES:
Learn more about Lanie Doerr, her work and her approach to farmer mental health:
🌐https://www.laniedoerr.com
Farmers are People: A Revolutionary Insight into Farmer Suicide Risk
Learn more about Lanie’s book and her perspective on farmer suicide risk:
🌐 https://www.laniedoerr.com/about-4
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Thank You to our Show Sponsor
Here at The Impact Farming Show, our goal is to bring our audience the people and ideas that will IMPACT their farming operation. We couldn't do it without the continued support of our sponsors that are committed to supporting our show and our shared vision of helping farmers succeed.
Please take a moment to check out this week's show sponsor: KUHN
Quality people. Quality products. Quality service. Quality support.
Invest in quality and experience the KUHN difference at a dealer near you!
Find a Dealer near you: https://www.en.kuhn-canada.com/dealer-finder
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About the Guest:
Lanie Doerr, LPC
professional counselor / Author
I farmed for a living for about 12 years before I started the path to becoming a licensed professional counselor. I felt compelled to write my new book, Farmers are People: A Revolutionary Insight into Farmer Suicide Risk, due to the extreme need of this group. My approach to this problem is very different from most.
Movies, heroes, and farmers
Most of us like movies about heroes. We like seeing them face down their opponent, dig deep, and keep on striving. Usually, these scenes are full of action, danger, and urgency. Loads of adrenaline.
A therapy client, on the other hand, sets an appointment, shows up for it, and then without the clearly defined story arc of a movie, engages with the work, which is the battle for himself with the counselor as his ally and guide. He does all this without fanfare or the surge of energy from adrenaline. Usually, he does it without any clear idea at the beginning of which battle is going to be the one that matters most.
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* Disclaimer - As always, this information is not intended to provide business or medical advice. To ensure that your own circumstances have been properly considered and that action is taken based on the latest information available, you should obtain professional advice from qualified business or medical professionals before acting on any of the information in this post.
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The Impact Farming Show
Welcome to Impact Farming, Farm Marketer's video and audio show dedicated to helping Canadian farmers excel in the business of farming. Our goal with this show is to introduce our audience to the people and ideas that are going to make an IMPACT on their farming operation.
Show Host - Tracy Brunet
CEO of Farm Marketer
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Tracy and her husband are cattle ranchers in South East, Manitoba. As host of the show, primary producer and agvocate, Tracy is passionate about helping farmers succeed in the business of farming.
In each episode, Tracy chats with today's most successful farm advisors and industry leaders to bring our audience the best and most important ideas.
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