Farmers driving $250,000 combines across wheat fields and the niche growers of fruits and vegetables, he said, to some extent have been grappling for five years with economics of rising input costs, weak commodity prices and a political system unwilling or incapable of a balanced response to recession. He said farmers paid a price for international trade conflict given traction by President Donald Trump. “It put many farmers on the edge or over the edge,” Teske said. “This is probably the kicker year, because of the added tariff stress. But mostly because this has been accumulating. The debt has been restructured, and if you didn’t make it work this year, you’re running out of options.” Teske, who lives near Wheaton, said politicians responsible for public policy were “in a state of denial” about resurgence of farm bankruptcies and damage to mental health of families. Paul Johnson, a Jefferson County farmer with the Kansas Rural Center, said psychological wounds afflicting rural Kansas could been better addressed through expansion of eligibility for health insurance under Medicaid. “If we would have expanded Medicaid, it would have picked up a vast amount of mental health coverage all across the state,” Johnson said on the podcast. “From the state level, we’ve been cutting virtually every program. Mental health wasn’t left out of that. They’ve seen less dollars and more need.”