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An expert from ÁÕÀÅÊÓƵ has talked about the work he is doing to improve mental health and wellbeing in agriculture on a new podcast.

Professor David Rose, the Director of the Centre for Social Science at ÁÕÀÅÊÓƵ, was among the guests on Tramlines, a podcast run by Agrii, a leading provider of agronomy services, technology and strategic advice.

The podcast focussed on the Agri-Wellbeing Alliance, a coalition between the Crown Estate, Mates in Mind, National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC), IOSH Rural Industries Group, Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies), the Farming Community Network (FCN) and Agrii.

The vision of the Alliance is to work towards a farming sector where mental health and wellbeing is prioritised, supported, and openly discussed.

Explaining why the Alliance – and the research he has been carrying out to feed into its work – is so important, Professor Rose said: “We know that there are some people in farming who are suffering from very poor levels of mental health, and I think what is valuable about this research is it is looking at the role that can be played in supporting farmers’ mental health by those people who are interacting with farmers on a regular basis.

“The research also shows that even though farmers need support with mental – and also physical – healthcare, they can struggle to access that support.

“That might be because, in rural areas, there’s poor availability of GP or mental healthcare appointments: it might be that farmers find it difficult to find the time to access appointments or there’s very poor public transport. It might be because there is some stigma associated with seeking help for both physical and mental healthcare, with a stoic attitude in the industry.

“We know that farmers cannot always proactively seek support for their mental health care when they need it, but we know also there are individuals - agronomists, contractors, land agents, health and safety consultants, veterinarians - who regularly interact with farmers.

“They go down the farm track, they might see them in an auction mart, an agricultural show - and they often build very trusting relationships with farmers and therefore could be part of spotting signs of distress and signposting farmers towards support.

“This really was one of the first comprehensive bits of research to look at how these individuals who regularly interact with farmers support farmers with worries, the effect it has on the farmer but also the supporter – and to really try and learn lessons for  how training those advisors with better mental health literacy, what effect that might have so we can learn lessons about how to support the supporters – but also support the farmers better.”

Listen to the whole podcast and find out more about how the Alliance is building on Professor Rose’s research and backing those carrying out this vital work here: