Our nation’s farmers and ranchers face unprecedented mental health crises. Alarmingly, suicide rates among agricultural workers are still on the rise. The LandLogic Model, which addresses the emotional challenges experienced by members of the farming and ranching communities. It does this by leveraging their deep, intrinsic connection to the land. This fresh approach draws on principles from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It seeks to provide unique, accessible, and culturally relevant support to farmers — individuals that have difficulty accessing conventional therapy.
Kaila Anderson Neal created the LandLogic Model, which expands upon Dr. Michael Rosmann’s earlier, foundational work. It’s an interesting and new approach to providing mental health treatment. Farmers obviously have a very deep and abiding relationship with their land. Understanding this relationship is a powerful piece of the puzzle for igniting and addressing worsening depression, anxiety, and other issues. LandLogic offers a less common model than traditional therapy. Its primary interest is in tangible interventions that link the archaeological healing journey to the agrarian way of life.
Farmers have a difficult time in what some call barbed-wire thinking. This type of cognitive distortion only serves to exacerbate their mental health challenges. The LandLogic Model focuses on training therapists to recognize the ten most common thought patterns farmers and ranchers fall into when experiencing mental distress. This deeply personalized process allows us to learn about the technical and financial barriers farmers have been encountering. This allows therapists to provide more tailored, impactful support.
Dr. Rosmann was the one who first introduced the agrarian imperative to me.
LandLogic Model
This idea has powerful implications for the creation of the LandLogic Model. This genetic inclination to protect and nurture land that produces essential resources is activated through contact with nature, animals, and the environment. By taking a holistic approach as farmers work with the natural world, they’ll find themselves better suited to tackling deeper-rooted emotional scars.
In 2024, the LandLogic Model went completely online. Today, it offers virtual train-the-trainer training sessions in English for healthcare providers across the country. This accessibility is a crucial step in reaching farmers and ranchers who might otherwise remain isolated from traditional mental health services. The LandLogic Model provides free online training to develop a network of therapists. These professionals are resourced and ready to engage with agricultural communities in a way that authentically responds to their lived experiences.
As dire as this collective need is, it has been further illustrated by the farmers’ own accounts and experiences dealing with mental health issues themselves. Galen, a farmer who has faced profound despair, expressed thoughts of self-harm during his darkest moments: “I thought about sticking my hand in the auger.” He reflects on how these feelings have impacted his family, saying, “Oh, Linda would be so much better off if I was gone and she had that money.” These poignant declarations underscore the specific and critical mental health needs of farming communities.
Fellow farmer Maddie Caldwell highlights the difficulty of prioritizing personal health while running a farm. She remarked, “I barely have 10 minutes to eat food on the farm,” emphasizing the relentless pressure farmers face. The stigma surrounding mental health issues can further complicate matters, as Caldwell noted, “I cannot imagine if I told my dad, like: ‘Hey, I know we need to tour cows today, but I need to take hours to just look at the sky.’”
Kaila Anderson, who was previously the lead architect of the LandLogic Model and continues to inform its building, reflects on her ag journey. She asserts, “My story is not a stepchild to agriculture,” emphasizing that mental health struggles can affect anyone in the community. Anderson notes that support is not limited to producers alone: “You don’t have to be a producer.”
The LandLogic Model is an exciting new development in the provision of mental health care to farmers and ranchers. This process connects therapeutic practices with the realities of agricultural life. It seeks to fill a lack of understanding and provide appropriate, substantive ways to show support. This is a unique approach that addresses mental health directly. It fosters deep connections to one another and a shared life together for all those who tend the soil.
Therapists trained in LandLogic are getting to the root of the cognitive distortions that ag workers commonly experience. This understanding equips them with the tools to offer the most purposeful and impactful interventions. The model focuses on real-world application, so therapy can take place in tandem with everyday farming tasks. This method removes the stigma, helping those who would be hesitant to engage in regular therapy.