Farmers who are struggling with depression are being urged to reach out for help, as a new study shows a decline in farmers mental health in the last year  

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said primary producers are feeling overworked, underappreciated and anxious. 

“In a recent Rural Aid study, one in two farmers said they’ve felt their mental health decline in the past year,” Mr Warlters said . 

“76 per cent of our farmers rated their mental health as poor, very poor or average.” 

“These numbers show that all is not well on the farm,” Mr Warlters said. 

It’s a sentiment echoed across the industry; Rabobank’s Rural Confidence Survey has shown farm confidence has plummeted in the past three months.

Rural Aid CEO, John Warlters. Image: National Rural Aid. 

Federal Government data shows Farmers are more likely to have depression and anxiety than other people. More than 1 in every 2 farmers thinks that mental health is a problem or concern in their local community. 

Rural Aid’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Manager, Myf Pitcher, said weather conditions, biosecurity concerns, and disaster recovery are on farmers’ minds. 

“Our counselling team is making a really important difference every day, we’ve been all over the country supporting primary producers,” Ms Pitcher said. 

David Jochincke: National Farmers Federation. 

.    

Dr Alison Kennedy, Director of the National Centre for Farmer Health calls for continuing collaboration in response to risks to farmer mental health: ‘While we need to continue to work with farmers, industry and stakeholders nationally to develop effective, evidence-based solutions to the ongoing challenges our farmers face, we also need to collectively encourage farmers to access supports that are already available".  

The Centre is leading a #BuildingFarmSpirit social media campaign to improve the wellbeing of farmers.  

The campaign is raising awareness of the challenges farmers face, while also sharing and celebrating positive examples of how they are managing ongoing seasonal challenges. The Centre has also partnered with Lysn—a leading online mental health service provider—to provide farmers easy access to farmer health trained psychologists 

Dr Kennedy now is the time for people to work together. 

"We need collaboration rather than confusion." 

NFF President David Jochinke said life on the land came with stressors and most of these were outside of someone's control. 

Image: peoplesense.com 

“Access to support in the bush can be limited and couple that with a culture of farmers having to be ‘resilient’ all the time and it can feel like your back is against the wall. 

“Awareness around mental health is growing which is a positive step in the right direction but we need to build on that and explore new ideas.” 



Numbers to call

Rural Aid 1300 327 624 

National Centre for Farmers Health 03 5551 8533 

Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 

Lifeline 13 11 14