BURLINGTON — Pizza isn’t the obvious vehicle for suicide prevention.

That’s part of what makes it effective. Freshly baked slices drew people in on Saturday at the outdoor Pizza 4 Producers event aimed at farmers and farmworkers. A table nearby offered mental health resources, like stress balls and brochures.

“Farmers don’t ask for help,” said Sandy Tenneson, a retired teacher. She owns the farmland she grew up on near Burlington, where the event was held alongside a vintage steam thresher demonstration put on by a local family.

At a gathering like this, “it’s just here, but they don’t really have to look like they are listening,” she said. “It’s subtle.”

The event is one way the Washington State University Skagit County Extension office addresses the issue of mental health challenges among agricultural workers. Farming is particularly difficult right now due to high production costs and low commodity pricing, said Don McMoran, director of the extension.

Pizza is served at the Pizza 4 Producers event hosted by the Washington State University Skagit County Extension. Sophia Gates /Cascadia Daily News)

It’s a stressful occupation at the best of times. Maddy Vanderkooy, a staff member at the extension office, said in farming, you’re dependent on factors you can’t control, such as weather and market conditions. It can also be isolating, especially elsewhere in the state where farms tend to be further from neighbors.

Vanderkooy is a program coordinator for a regional group that supports farmers in coping with stress.

“You’re taught from a very young age in farming communities to bite your lip and get the job done,” said McMoran, a “fourth-generation farm kid.” That attitude serves agriculture well, but can cause problems when someone’s dealing with a serious issue.

He sees people drift over to the resource table at these gatherings and start talking about people they’ve known who died by suicide. “We try to make those conversations as easy as possible,” McMoran said.

Like a number of attendees on Saturday, Ken Fritsch came out because of the steam thresher demonstration. He owns a farming and heavy equipment repair shop near Sedro-Woolley.

Though he hadn’t known beforehand the pizza event was meant to support farmers’ mental health, the theme “strikes pretty close to home,” he said, as he knows Vietnam War veterans who face struggles in that area.

That said, in his view, mental health problems are likely less prevalent among farmers than among others. As farmers get older, Fritsch said, their work often keeps them healthy and active.

Ken Fritsch, owner of a local equipment repair shop, smiles during the Pizza 4 Producers event near Burlington. Sophia Gates /Cascadia Daily News)

When people with desk jobs retire, on the other hand, “they tend to get bored, nothing to do,” he said. “And then the mental problems start creeping up on them.”

Wyatt Mattison, who used to work for a nearby crop farm, helped with the steam thresher — “kind of hard to pass up old farm equipment,” he said.

He didn’t know about the Pizza 4 Producers event happening at the same time, but acknowledged “farming can be a very hard life sometimes.”

“You can be very tight with your timeline for getting crops in, and money can be tight, too,” Mattison said. “You don’t have much of a life — farming is your life.”

But despite its challenges, he wants to go back into the industry eventually.

“It’s just fun,” he said. Seeing “progression” in animals and crops is a good feeling.

“You know you’re feeding America,” he said. “So there’s that, too.”

Sophia Gates covers rural Whatcom and Skagit counties. She is a Washington State Murrow Fellow whose work is underwritten by taxpayers and available outside CDN’s paywall. Reach her at sophiagates@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 131.