A team of 60 psychologists should be sent out for the next six months "to help address the anxiety, stress, depression being faced by many farmers", particularly men, said Kennett.

Australia's farmers are typically tough, resilient and resourceful - qualities that have enabled generations of country families to tough it out in hard times of drought and bushfires.

But these same qualities also prevent many from seeking help, particularly for depression, because they are worried that asking for help could be seen as weak or shameful.

Rural counsellor Liz Tomlinson-Reynolds said she receives up to 12 calls a day from depressed farmers.

"They're actually breaking into tears and you know, obviously, terribly, terribly distressed and that's over the phone. The ones that I see personally are no more stoic," Tomlinson-Reynolds told radio from northwest New South Wales.

More than 300,000 rural Australians experience depression each year, says beyondblue, but only a small number seek help.

A beyondblue study found several factors contributed to rural stress, such as isolation, drought-induced financial difficulties, stock loss, pressure of decision-making and the constant mental and physical demands of farming.

But rural communities are the least well-equipped to deal with mental health problems, with limited access to counselling, said the New South Wales Farmers Association.

"There are other facets of severe drought that are unable to be measured in production or dollar terms," the association said in a discussion paper on the drought released on Thursday.

"These are the social ramifications testing not only the farmers but all people on the frontline of drought," it said.

"Depression, isolation, alcohol abuse, family breakdown and suicide rates in regional and farming communities are all exacerbated in time of drought."

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