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Economic crisis, financial problems, but also social isolation are the main ills pushing more and more farmers around the world to commit suicide. Taking France as an example, a country that is recognized as one of the powerhouses of modern agriculture, 500 farmers have committed suicide between 2007 and 2009. This means that in French rural areas a farmer dies by suicide every two days. The British authorities too believe that their farmers should be considered a population at risk. Farmers in the UK are killing themselves more than twice that of the rest of the population. India holds the sad record for the number of farmers who commit suicide: more than 250.000 between 1995 and 2010. During that same period, in the State of Maharashtra, yet the wealthiest State in India, 50.000 farmers died by suicide. And these grim statistics throughout the world are certainly underestimated because many suicides are misclassified as accidents. Whether in Europe or in India the reasons for these deaths are often the same: precarious economic conditions, insufficient harvest because of changing climate, a drop in agricultural prices which no longer allows farmers to make a decent living without State financial support. To that must be added an increasing social isolation especially in Europe. But also in the advanced economies the huge pressure from volume retailers and supermarkets buying from farmers at prices below the cost of production. Technical innovations have made farming easier. But this is not enough to secure the future of a business that must be passed on to the next generations. And this profession is a very specific one: the farm is a workplace and a home.The farmer when the professional activity declines, remains locked up around the clock in a depressing environment. And he thinks that the future is looking bleek.

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