A new University of Georgia study reveals that 1 in 5 U.S. farmers report binge drinking when they experience high levels of stress. The paper underlines the link between farmers using alcohol to cope with stress.

Farming is a uniquely stressful vocation. Farmers work long hours performing labor-intensive, repetitive and often dangerous tasks. In fact, farming is among the top 10 most dangerous jobs in the U.S., according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In her previous work interviewing farmers about their experiences handling stress, many of them expressed a fear that seeking mental health care would be interpreted by fellow farmers or the companies paying them to produce that they can’t handle their operation.

“It’s much easier for them to turn inward and just consume alcohol,” she said. “And it’s also more acceptable in rural areas to do that than it is to go to a mental health care facility.”

Knowing the stigma that exists within rural farming populations about seeking care and then looking at death by suicide numbers, it really is a public health issue because there are drastic, traumatic outcomes associated with not being able to ask for that care, using alcohol to cope and then feeling hopeless

The future of farmers’ well-being—and our global food supply—depends on taking action now.