Kansas Farm Life Loneliness Takes Worsening Toll

We linked this report previously in a compilation . . . But for Sunday, this passage stands out . . . Here'd the word:

"Kansas farms are more specialized, sticking to large-scale farming of one or two commodity crops. There are government incentives for these crops, and bigger farms get more federal dollars.

"That economic efficiency might actually be hurting smaller towns, exacerbating some of the health challenges rural Kansans already face. Larger farms push out smaller farms and lead to less people staying in a community. With less people there’s less resources for them like hospitals and schools.

"The changes have happened over years, a period that also saw death by suicide rates rise in rural areas.

"Mental health access is already hard to come by in western Kansas, but suicide rates are even higher if you work in agriculture."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

As Kansas farms grow bigger, more people leave and rural life gets lonelier

In western Kansas, counties with the largest farms are projected to see population losses in the next 70 years according to economists at Wichita State University.Social isolation has been linked