Researchers at University College Dublin (UCD) have been working to identify risk factors for poor mental health and suicide among farmers.
The UCD research project, which has been ongoing since August 2021, and funded by the Health Service Executive National Office for Suicide Prevention, aims to understand what exactly is impacting farmers’ mental health, and put in place proper supports.
Currently, the UCD team is leading a number of focus groups to determine what types of mental-health supports and interventions are likely to work best for the farming community.
The team is also conducting a national survey to better understand the bigger picture in Ireland at the moment.
The project is being coordinated by Dr. Tomás Russell, a lecturer in agricultural extension at the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, and Alison Stapleton from the UCD School of Psychology.
Unique challenges
“We want to understand the barriers to and facilitators of wellbeing that are specific to farmers in Ireland so we can work towards putting proper supports in place,” Stapleton explained.
Farms continue to be one of the most dangerous workplaces in Ireland.
In addition to the potential for fatal injuries, farmers are faced with a number of unique challenges and stressors, including, among others:
- Shifting government policies;
- Animal and/or crop disease outbreaks;
- Loneliness;
- Misrepresentation in the media;
- Financial loss, and many more.
These stressors can negatively impact farmers’ mental health and have disastrous consequences for individual farmers and the sector at large, according to the researchers.
The team has undertaken a number of studies over the past year.
They conducted a series of one-to-one interviews with farmers from a range of enterprises and age cohorts to identify factors impacting farmer wellbeing.
“A lot of anxiety seemed to stem from how farmers viewed themselves versus how they thought they should behave. E.g., male farmers highlighted pressures associated with ‘being a man’ and masculine identities; wanting others to see them as ‘mentally strong’,” Stapleton explained.
Some of these farmers worried that engaging with mental health supports would make them seem ‘weak’.
Other farmers talked about times they made decisions that they knew were not profitable long-term – just to keep the farm going, because farming is such a huge part of who they are.
“There can be enormous pressure to keep the farm going, especially for farmers working on land that has been in their family for generations,” she said.
Having ‘land on the mind’
“Farmers have a unique relationship with land – it’s not just a business. Many farmers talked about how thinking about land can contribute to poor mental health; having ‘land on the mind’ makes it hard for farmers to rest and recover after a workday,” she said.
Farmers also highlighted a number of aspects of farming work itself that negatively impacted their wellbeing. E.g., preparing for inspections can be a huge source of stress, the research found.
“Navigating succession issues, [administration], and finance can also be challenging. Loneliness and isolation are other key factors that were worsened by Covid-19 restrictions.
“Throughout the pandemic, many farmers were unable to connect with their social support systems. There is a misconception that only bachelor farmers experience loneliness; the problem is much more widespread,” the researcher continued.
“Across the pandemic, a number of married farmers with children talked about needing to work extra hours to make up for the loss of casual labourers on the farm and found themselves not getting home from the day’s work until everyone else in the house was asleep.”
Representation in the media
Representation in the media is another area of concern for farmers, according to the research.
“The way news outlets discuss sectors impacting climate change poses a number of challenges for farmers, with some farmers feeling as if they were being scapegoated for climate change.
Related to this, the way people talk about animal rights on social media can cause issues for farmers.
Stapleton explained:
“Some farmers talked about self-declared activists sneaking onto their farm to try release animals or record content for social media.
“The way society talks about farmers matters, and often farmers feel unappreciated and misunderstood by non-farming communities.
“Our dream would be to use what we’ve learned over the past year to actually build effective mental health interventions for farmers and the farming community at large,” Stapleton said.
“Equally, it’s important to lobby for changes in unfair systems that are causing farmers distress. There is just so much work to be done in this area and if our project can move things forward, get Ireland closer toward putting workable supports in place, that would be great.”
If you are a member of the farming community and want to help the team with this important work, you can complete their anonymous, confidential survey here.