Caregiving Along the Life Course Among Farming Households

Caregiving is a universal human experience with a wide range of consequences on caregivers' physical and mental health, social life, and economic well-being. Yet caregiving among the farming population has seldom been studied, even though this population might have greater needs for care due to the dangerous and physical nature of the work, aging of the population, and the role of childcare as a safety strategy.

We drew on a publicly available survey of 704 farming caregivers in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest to answer four research questions: 1) Who are the caregivers? 2) What resources does caregiving require? 3) How does caregiving impact farming caregivers' finances and well-being? 4) What type of support do caregivers use and what support do they want? We conducted bivariate analysis to tease out similarities and differences based on the type of care provided: children, adults (with a disability and/or older), or both (i.e. children and adults).

Almost two-thirds of respondents (60%) cared for both children and adults, while 22% cared only for children and 17% cared only for adults. Respondents are diverse - with a variety of caregiving responsibilities and demands on their time and finances. A majority of respondents reported a mix of both largely negative impacts on financial wellbeing and mostly positive and neutral impacts on mental, physical, and social wellbeing. Most respondents used social safety net programs and desired more caregiving support. Significant differences emerge when we compare different types of caregiving. Respondents caring for children and adults are more likely to have higher resource demands, negative financial impacts, and desires for support.

Our findings reemphasize the importance of attending to the social and economic needs of farmers and farmworkers in research, outreach, and policy. This includes helping farming community navigate their caregiving responsibilities in a way that accounts for how their realities (e.g. needs of people they care for, self-employment status, immigration status, rurality of residence) shape their needs and ability to access help. Our findings also add to the growing scholarship challenging stereotypes that farming communities are socially tight-knit, self-sufficient, and do not want help.