CLA Deputy President Mark Tufnell is calling on the farming community to look after its mental health, as part of the Farm Safety Partnership’s annual Mind Your Head campaign this week.
Mr Tufnell said:
“Farmers are made of stern stuff. Whatever task we are faced with, we just ‘get on with it’.
“But our own mental health needs attention. In that context, getting on with it does not mean ignoring the problem, it means tackling it head on.”
The biggest hidden problem
According to the Farm Safety Foundation, 84% of farmers under 40 believe mental health is the biggest hidden problem they face.
Farmers and their families have many of the same issues as the general population. But there are many other factors exacerbated by way of life; isolation, weather, long hours, market conditions and business uncertainty which all take their toll.
One of the worst safety records
Farming continues to have one of the worst safety records of any industry. Given the hazards of, for example, operating heavy machinery, being in the wrong headspace at work can lead to life changing injuries – or worse.
Indeed, 85% of young farmers believe there is a link between farm safety and mental health.
CLA South East represents thousands of landowners, farmers and rural businesses in Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight.
Tufnell: “Now is time for us to better take care of ourselves”
Mr Tufnell added:
“Farmers are renowned for the care they give to their livestock and the attention they give their crops. Now is the time for us to better take care of ourselves.
“We are backing the third annual Mind Your Head campaign as, in a rapidly changing industry that is facing tremendous uncertainty, we have to remove what remains of the stigma attached to mental health.”
For more information on the Mind Your Head campaign visit visit the Website.
For more information about the CLA and its work, visit visit the Website and follow @CLASouthEast on Twitter.
News shared by Michael on behalf of the Country, Land and Business Association (CLA). Ed
Image: Benjamin Davies under CC BY 2.0
