Reiff's Favorite Story of 2025

As the year comes to a close, we've once again asked the DTN/Progressive Farmer reporting team to pick out the most significant, most fun, or otherwise their favorite, story of 2025. We hope you enjoy our writers' favorites, continuing the series with today's story by DTN Content Editor EllaMae Reiff.

**

I chose a blog I wrote about agriculture burnout and mental health as my favorite story of 2025 because it breaks one of agriculture's most dangerous silences. In an industry that prides itself on grit and resilience, we've somehow equated asking for help with weakness.

I didn't wake up one morning and decide to write about burnout in agriculture, and to be honest, the original blog started as a Facebook post. The truth is -- this piece chose me.

Over the course of just a few days, my social media feeds were filled with posts about agricultural burnout. At first, I scrolled past them like I would most other content. But something about the sheer volume -- the raw honesty in people's words -- stopped me. These weren't just vague complaints about long hours or tough markets. These were confessions. Admissions. Cries for help disguised as observations about an industry we all love.

And it hit me harder than I expected it to.

At 22, I've already watched too many talented, passionate farmers leave the industry. Not because they weren't tough enough. Not because they didn't love it. But because they were drowning, and no one noticed. Or worse, everyone noticed but no one said anything because "that's just farming."

This blog came from a place of frustration and hope mixed together. Frustration because we've somehow created a culture that treats asking for help as weakness, and where sleepless nights and constant anxiety are just "part of the deal." Hope because these conversations are finally happening. I grew up learning that perseverance and hard work are everything, and they are -- but they're not the only things that matter. We also need to create space for honesty about the weight we carry, the financial stress, the isolation, and the fear that keeps us awake wondering if we can make it through another season.

What struck me most while writing this was realizing how many farmers answer "How are you?" with weather reports and yield predictions instead of the truth. We've gotten so good at talking around our struggles that we've forgotten how to talk about them directly.

The blog matters because it's a call to change that pattern -- to reach out, to really listen and to remind each other that strength includes knowing when to ask for support.

I wrote the original blog and chose it as my favorite story because I needed to say out loud what so many of us have been thinking in silence, and because at 22, I want to see the industry that gave me everything -- my values, my work ethic, my sense of purpose -- thrive for decades to come. That won't happen if we keep sacrificing our people on the altar of "that's just how it is."

For more information on rural mental health issues and a list of helpful resources for farmers, ranchers and their families, visit DTN/Progressive Farmer's "Spotlight on Rural Mental Health" page here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

See my original blog on DTN/Progressive Farmer, "Agriculture Burnout Is Real: Why We Need to Talk About Mental Health," at https://www.dtnpf.com/…

EllaMae Reiff can be reached at ellamae.reiff@dtn.com

Follow her on social platform X @ellareiff

(c) Copyright 2025 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.