The link between American farming and suicide has a well-established basis that has only been strengthened by contemporary problems like U.S. agricultural policy and climate change. Muckville is a short documentary that exposes some of the issues modern farmers face and their strong tie-in with suicide and depression.
It’s sad to think that there is such a high suicide rate for the farmers who grow the food that keeps us alive. It’s hard to imagine a more important job, yet farmers are not only unfairly compensated for what they do, they often go into thousands of dollars of debt and can never break even. When their harvest is destroyed it not only wipes out any potential income for that year, but also all the work and money of the preceding year that went into planting it. On top of that, American crop insurance can be a shell game where a part of that loss will end up serving as a deductible.
Muckville takes a little time to get into the topic of mental health and suicide but this background is all necessary to understand the devastating plight of the modern farmer. The story focuses on Chris Pawelski, a fourth-generation onion farmer who was finally forced to give up the business when he realized he would never pay his bills. He talks about contemplating suicide so that his family would be provided for by life insurance and he wouldn’t have to worry about tasks or finances anymore. Instead, he gave up the farm, which meant giving up a livelihood passed down in his family and nurtured with toil and care over the years.
To think that our food system and economy have created a spike in suicides among farmers is incredibly depressing, and Muckville paints this issue with an appropriately somber lens. It also serves as an expose of the economic inner workings of an industry that few people understand even though it is absolutely vital to our way of life. It’s an incredibly important topic on both fronts, almost demonstrative of how the very lifeblood of American capitalism can strike at the roots of our mental health.
You can still watch Muckville for free in Shorts Block No. 4 in the virtual festival through 11/5: https://watch.eventive.org/mentalfilmness2023/play/6516471ae7c4a400b8f951b8/65078019e737b7006fb2642d
Mental Filmness 