Midwest farmers face a crisis. Hundreds are dying by suicide.

Katie Wedell, Lucille Sherman and Sky Chadde, USA TODAY NetworkUpdated 1 hour ago

One by one, the three men from the same close-knit community took their own lives.

Their deaths spanned a two-year stretch starting in mid-2015 and shook the village of Georgetown, Ohio, about 40 miles southeast of Cincinnati.

All of the men were in their 50s and 60s.

All were farmers.

Heather Utter, whose husband’s cousin was the third to die by suicide, worries that her father could be next. The longtime dairy farmer, who for years struggled to keep his operation afloat, sold the last of his cows in January amid his declining health and dwindling finances. The decision crushed him.

A barn sits in a field once worked by Charlie Utter's cousin, a farmer who died by suicide in July 2017, Tuesday, March 3, 2020 in Georgetown, Ohio. [Joshua A. Bickel/Dispatch] — A barn sits in a field once worked by Charlie Utter’s cousin, a farmer who died by suicide in July 2017, Tuesday, March 3, 2020 in Georgetown, Ohio. [Joshua A. Bickel/Dispatch]

“He’s done nothing but milk cows all his life,” said Utter, whose father declined to be interviewed.

“It was a big decision, a sad decision. But at what point do you say enough is enough?”

American farmers produce nearly all of the country’s food and contribute some $133 billion annually to the gross domestic product.

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SEEDS OF DESPAIR More than 450 farmers killed themselves across nine Midwestern states from 2014 to 2018. Meanwhile, calls to Farm Aid’s crisis hotline soar.

Midwest farmers face a crisis. Hundreds are dying by suicide.

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