I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5246 

To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to reauthorize 

the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network and establish a national 

agricultural crisis hotline, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 22, 2023 

Ms. CARAVEO (for herself, Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas, and Mr. DAVIS of 

North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 

to reauthorize the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance 

Network and establish a national agricultural crisis hotline, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Agricultural 

5 Crisis Hotline Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) the suicide rate for farmers is 3.5 times 

2 higher than the suicide rate of the general popu3 lation; 

4 (2) male farmers and ranchers have signifi5 cantly higher rates of suicide (43.2 per 100,000) 

6 compared to the average rate of suicide across other 

7 professions (27.4 per 100,000); 

8 (3) the percentage of adults ages 26 and older 

9 that live in completely rural areas has increased be10 tween 2019 and 2020, making completely rural 

11 areas the most afflicted county types with respect to 

12 alcohol abuse; and 

13 (4) evidence suggests that the stigma sur14 rounding mental health in farming and ranching 

15 communities has decreased but still plays a signifi16 cant role in influencing behavior. 

17 SEC. 3. FARM AND RANCH STRESS ASSISTANCE NETWORK. 

18 Section 7522 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy 

19 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 5936) is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (b)(1)— 

21 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) 

22 and (D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respec23 tively; and 

24 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(C) mental health training for agriculture 

2 professionals (including farm loan officers, ex3 tension agents, and State department of agri4 culture staff);’’; 

5 (2) by redesignating subsections (d) through (f) 

6 as subsections (e) through (g), respectively; 

7 (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL CRISIS HOTLINE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the Farm and 

11 Ranch Stress Assistance Network established under 

12 subsection (a), the Secretary shall establish, and 

13 maintain directly or by grant or contract, a national 

14 agricultural crisis hotline (referred to in this sub15 section as the ‘national agricultural crisis hotline’) to 

16 provide emotional support, information, suicide crisis 

17 intervention, mental health and substance use dis18 order, and agricultural support resources to— 

19 ‘‘(A) farmers, farm managers, farm work20 ers, and ranchers affected by mental health and 

21 substance use disorders; and 

22 ‘‘(B) families or household members of 

23 those farmers, farm managers, farm workers, 

24 and ranchers. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The national agricul2 tural crisis hotline shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) provide 24/7 real-time live assistance 

4 by voice and through a mobile texting applica5 tion; 

6 ‘‘(B) be staffed 24/7 in accordance with 

7 paragraph (4); 

8 ‘‘(C) provide referral services to meet the 

9 needs of family and household members of 

10 farmers, ranchers, and related professionals; 

11 ‘‘(D) offer 24-hour follow-up calls to call12 ers; 

13 ‘‘(E) provide standardized translation serv14 ices that meet the needs of the agricultural pop15 ulation; and 

16 ‘‘(F) comply with all Federal, State, and 

17 local laws, including the Health Insurance Port18 ability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public 

19 Law 104–191; 110 Stat. 1936). 

20 ‘‘(3) DATA COLLECTION.—The national agricul21 tural crisis hotline shall collect the following data: 

22 ‘‘(A) Call data, including total calls, calls 

23 queued, calls answered, calls dropped, and aver24 age speed of answer. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Rescue data, including next steps 

2 suggested and information provided to the call3 er. 

4 ‘‘(C) Follow-up calls. 

5 ‘‘(D) Caller information, including— 

6 ‘‘(i) whether the caller is calling for 

7 the first time or is a repeat caller; 

8 ‘‘(ii) the living situation of the caller; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(iii) demographic information of the 

11 caller. 

12 ‘‘(E) Reason for call and caller needs and 

13 concerns. 

14 ‘‘(F) Referrals provided, including re15 sources provided and strategies employed with 

16 respect to addressing the needs and concerns of 

17 callers. 

18 ‘‘(4) STAFFING.—Call responders and super19 visors of call responders operating the national agri20 cultural crisis hotline shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) be crisis intervention specialists, li22 censed health care professionals, or licensed 

23 mental health professionals who— 

24 ‘‘(i) are trained in providing culturally 

25 and linguistically appropriate support; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) have awareness training with re2 spect to farm stress and the farming iden3 tity; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) have credentials that enable 

5 them to provide evidence-based suicide 

6 intervention hotline care, including accredi7 tation from the American Association of 

8 Suicidology and the Alliance of Informa9 tion and Referral Systems; and 

10 ‘‘(B) meet training requirements developed 

11 by the Secretary or the entity maintaining the 

12 hotline, as applicable, which, at a minimum, 

13 shall include— 

14 ‘‘(i) at least 80 hours of interactive 

15 training and content, which shall include— 

16 ‘‘(I) elements of applied suicide 

17 intervention skills training; 

18 ‘‘(II) information and training on 

19 providing trauma informed support; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(III) training and content on 

22 other relevant clinical topics; 

23 ‘‘(ii) foundational agriculture mental 

24 stress training that includes metrics that 

25 demonstrate competency; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) a minimum of 24 hours of direct 

2 supervised shifts before answering calls 

3 independently; and 

4 ‘‘(iv) ongoing training on specialized 

5 topics on at least a quarterly basis. 

6 ‘‘(5) PARTNERSHIPS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) EXISTING HOTLINES.—The Secretary 

8 or an entity receiving a grant or contract under 

9 paragraph (1), as applicable, shall form part10 nerships between the national agricultural crisis 

11 hotline and existing farm telephone helplines 

12 and websites. 

13 ‘‘(B) USDA AND OTHER FEDERAL PRO14 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall coordinate with— 

15 ‘‘(i) the Federal Office of Rural 

16 Health Policy and offices of the Depart17 ment of Agriculture that administer finan18 cial assistance programs to farmers and 

19 ranchers to provide information about the 

20 national agricultural crisis hotline to par21 ticipants of those programs; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) the Substance Abuse and Mental 

23 Health Services Administration to refer ag24 riculture related calls received through the 


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1 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline to the na2 tional agricultural crisis hotline. 

3 ‘‘(6) DIRECTORY.—The Secretary or an entity 

4 receiving a grant or contract under paragraph (1), 

5 as applicable, shall develop, and periodically update, 

6 a directory of organizations to which staff of the na7 tional agricultural crisis hotline can make referrals. 

8 ‘‘(7) OUTREACH.—The Secretary shall, in con9 sultation with the Department of Health and 

10 Human Services, the Substance Abuse and Mental 

11 Health Services Administration, any other relevant 

12 Federal agencies, and State departments of health 

13 and agriculture, conduct a public awareness cam14 paign for the national agricultural crisis hotline. 

15 ‘‘(8) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit to 

16 Congress and make publicly available an annual re17 port on the effectiveness of the national agricultural 

18 crisis hotline.’’; and 

19 (4) in subsection (e) (as so redesignated), by 

20 striking ‘‘$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 

21 through 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘$19,000,000 for each 

22 of fiscal years 2024 through 2028, of which 

23 $4,000,000 each fiscal year shall be used to carry 

24 out subsection (d)’’. 

Æ 


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