Psychosocial Risks Linked to Lower Wellbeing Among Swiss Farmers

FarmCoSwiss is Switzerland’s first national agricultural health cohort, launched to better understand the physical, mental and overall wellbeing of farmers and their partners over time. More than 870 farmers from across the country participated in the baseline survey between November 2022 and August 2023, reporting on their health, work environment and perceptions of risk.

Wellbeing was assessed using the Secure Flourish Index (SFI), a validated tool measuring six domains: happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close relationships, and financial and material stability.

Psychosocial stress: a key concern

Although average flourishing scores ranged between 7 and 8 on a 0–10 scale, farmers’ overall wellbeing was slightly lower than that of the general population, as measured through the COVCO-Basel cohort. The difference was most pronounced in the domains of mental and physical health, life satisfaction and financial security.

Psychosocial risks -- including sleep problems, stress, loneliness and interpersonal conflicts – were rated as the most harmful to health. These exposures were not only frequent but also strongly associated with lower flourishing scores across all six domains.

Conversely, physical hazards such as heavy labour or operating machinery, while common, were perceived as less harmful and even positively linked to certain aspects of wellbeing, such as character and social relationships.

“Our results highlight how psychosocial stress impacts farmers’ wellbeing,” said Priska Ammann, PhD candidate and first author of the study. “These findings reinforce agricultural organisations in their efforts to design effective mental health interventions for their members.”

Farm size and farming system matter

Another notable finding was the effect of farm size. Farmers managing small farms (under 5 hectares) reported significantly lower scores in financial stability, pointing to structural challenges within the sector. In contrast, larger farms were generally associated with higher levels of flourishing.

The farming system also played a role. Organic farmers reported better wellbeing in areas such as mental and physical health, life satisfaction and sense of purpose. However, they scored slightly lower in the domain of social relationships — possibly due to the more labour-intensive and isolated nature of organic farming.

A call for long-term monitoring and targeted support

The authors emphasise the importance of long-term monitoring of farmers’ health and wellbeing, particularly in the face of economic pressure, climate-related risks and changing agricultural policies.

“The wellbeing of farmers is crucial not only for their own health, but for the resilience of our food systems. With the FarmCoSwiss cohort, we’ve laid the foundation for long-term engagement with the farming community to monitor, maintain and ultimately improve their health and wellbeing,” said Prof. Nicole Probst-Hensch, senior author of the study and head of the cohort.

FarmCoSwiss is part of the interdisciplinary TRAPEGO project, which investigates the transformation of pesticide governance in Switzerland. The study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and helps close a significant evidence gap in agricultural health research.