Aldo, ag worker services program manager at the Colorado Department of Agriculture, told the Colorado Agriculture Behavioral Health Working Group that frontline outreach is reporting rising stress and multiple barriers to treatment among agricultural workers across the state. “This year is extremely difficult for ag workers just because of the different rates, you know, the different, I think, distrust now that there is out there with government,” Aldo said.

The presentation summarized recurring problems reported directly to CDA staff and partner service providers: high stress and anxiety tied to economic uncertainty and long hours; depression related to family separation and living conditions; substance use as a coping mechanism; and suicide risk. “Suicide risk is a serious concern,” Aldo said. “Unfortunately, I think since I've been here at CDA, we've had multiple incidents that occurred among our ag workers, committing suicide.”

Why it matters: Colorado’s ag worker population includes seasonal, migrant, H‑2A and permanent workers who provide essential labor across production sectors. The working-group discussion framed mental-health challenges as a workforce and public‑health issue because untreated behavioral health problems affect worker safety, retention and farm operations.

Frontline barriers and limitations

Aldo listed several structural and cultural barriers that constrain access to behavioral-health care for ag workers: limited Spanish- and Indigenous-language providers, clinic hours that conflict with long farm shifts, sparse local providers who specialize in culturally competent care for farmworker populations, lack of reliable transportation, limited or no health insurance, and immigration‑related fear that reduces willingness to seek help. “Other barriers to care, language,” Aldo said. “Immigration status … is huge, has been huge, but this year in particular has really eroded a lot of the different trust that we developed over the years with ag working communities.”

Aldo also described demographic patterns reported by providers: higher reported suicide incidents among male workers and frequent co-occurrence of substance abuse and untreated depression.

Discussion, direction and follow-up

Group members described mobile health units and outreach as promising approaches. JC Parika of Valleywide Health Systems described mobile vans that perform on-site health screenings and said the vans can be scheduled at worker housing, packing facilities or fields; she identified a July 15 mobile clinic for 75 seasonal workers at a Rocky Ford farm. Shadia (Behavioral Health Administration) said BHA offers free Spanish-language virtual services and volunteered to connect resources to CDA outreach staff.

Aldo said he would post contact information in the meeting chat for follow-up and collaboration; he also pledged to share more ground-level data and to connect the group to pilot activities such as a community-resilience program underway at Delta Hospital.

Ending

Working-group members said gaps in language-concordant care, clinic hours and transportation will be priorities for subcommittee work and for the group's annual report to the legislature. Aldo offered to supply contact details and to coordinate with community providers and partner agencies to expand mobile and culturally specific services.