Special Issue

Cultivating Well-being on Farms and Ranches

Submission Deadline: February 28, 2026 (Open) Submit Now

Guest Editors

Lorann Stallones, MPH, PhD, Professor

Department of Psychology, Director of High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States

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Research interests: mental health; agricultural safety and health; rural health and safety

Morgan Valley, MPH, PhD, Assistant Professor

Department of Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States

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Research interests: mental health; agricultural safety and health; rural health and safety; occupational health and well-being; mindfulness; prevention science; program evaluation

About This Topic

Articles that address unique aspects of farming, ranching, and agricultural communities that contribute to well-being are sought. Stressors, mental illnesses, emotional and social well-being, culture, and gender issues related to agricultural work, land ownership and tenure that impact overall health and well-being, access to medical and health services, policies that impact farmers and agricultural workers well-being, and help-seeking behaviors are of interest. Articles that contribute to the development of a conceptual framework that link the role of unique stressors and known circumstances in farming as it impacts overall health and well-being are of interest.

Keyword

mental health, well-being, agriculture, stressors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted through the LIDSEN Submission System. Detailed information on manuscript preparation and submission is available in the Instructions for Authors. All submitted articles will be thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process and will be processed following the Editorial Process and Quality Control policy. Upon acceptance, the article will be immediately published in a regular issue of the journal and will be listed together on the special issue website, with a label that the article belongs to the Special Issue. LIDSEN distributes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License in an open-access model. The authors own the copyright to the article, and the article can be free to access, distribute, and reuse provided that the original work is correctly cited.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). Research articles and review articles are highly invited. Authors are encouraged to send the tentative title and abstract of the planned paper to the Editorial Office (icm@lidsen.com) for record. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office.

Welcome your submission!

Publication

Open Access Concept Paper Time is a Precious Commodity: Reframing Farmer Stress and Mental Health Through the Lens of Time Poverty by Anna Scheyett  , Virginia Brown  and Christopher Weatherly Received: 24 September 2024;  Published: 16 January 2025;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2501005 Abstract In this conceptual paper we apply the construct of time poverty to a novel population, farmers struggling with stress and mental health challenges. Farmers have rates of suicide that can be over three times that of the general population, with depression and anxiety at double general population rates. These are linked [...]

Open Access Original Research Ocupación de Familia: Parent-Child Stress and Coping in Rural Farm-Dependent Families by Annie J. Keeney  , Anabel Rodriguez  , Jaime Murillo  and Savannah S. Ingold Received: 20 August 2024;  Published: 06 January 2025;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2501002 Abstract Farmworkers are the backbone of the agricultural economy in the US yet are disproportionately burdened with economic-related stress and adverse behavioral health outcomes. How these stressors translate to children and family well-being is poorly understood. Grounded in Transactional Stress and Coping Theory, we aimed to understand how children [...]

Open Access Original Research Farmer Stress & Coping: Qualitative Study from Hawaiʻi by Thao N. Le  and Emma L. Brown Received: 18 June 2024;  Published: 23 December 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2404070 Abstract This qualitative study explores the mental health challenges faced by Hawaiʻi farmers and allied agricultural producers, focusing on the main stressors they encountered and the coping mechanisms they employed. Through interviews with 77 farmers across all four counties, data revealed that significant stressors for Hawaiʻi farmers were legisl [...]

Open Access Original Research North Central Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Center: 2020-2023: Outcomes, Lessons Learned, and Recommendations for the Future by Josie M Rudolphi  , Courtney Cuthbertson  , Kimberly Keller  and Rebecca Mott Received: 26 April 2024;  Published: 28 June 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2402037 Abstract Agricultural producers (i.e., farmers, ranchers) and agricultural workers (i.e., hired labor, farmworkers) have worse mental health than the general population and often lack access to mental healthcare. In response, the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture funded four regional Farm and Ranch [...]