Center for Health Promotion and Health Equity

Seed Funds

CHPHE Seed Funds are intended to support activities necessary to advance competitive research proposals, such as performing work and facilitating collaboration. It is expected that a competitive proposal will be submitted to an external funding organization within a year of the completion of the funding period.

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Funded Projects

Addressing Farmer Mental Health Inequities in the United States

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Meredith Niles
  • Project Coordinator: Rebecca Mitchell
  • Funding Period: September 1, 2026 – February 28, 2027
  • Award:  $11,288

Why This Research Matters

U.S. farmers face major depressive disorder at rates 2 to 3 times higher than the general population, alongside disproportionately high suicide rates across the agricultural sector. Despite these elevated rates, a comprehensive, up-to-date assessment of farmer mental health across the U.S. is currently lacking.

How It Drives Impact & Policy

This project conducts a systematic scoping literature review across major databases (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed) using PRISMA guidelines to identify key gaps and intervention mechanisms. Partners with the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) to publish an updated NRHA Policy Brief to directly inform federal advocacy, Farm Bill priorities and a nationwide network of over 21,000 rural health practitioners.

This serves as a seed-funded foundation to support larger federal grant proposals (such as NIH R01 applications) investigating the impacts of regulatory stress, climate factors and conservation practices on farmer well-being.