April 7th, 2023Farmers in crisis
New research shines a light on Australian farmer mental health with saddening statistics around self-harm and suicide, sparking calls for government support and industry-wide collaboration to create farmer-to-farmer support networks across the country.
New research released laste last month paints a saddening picture of the mental health of Australia’s hard-working farmers with close to third (30%) reporting a decline in their mental health over the past few years.
The National Farmer Wellbeing Report1 commissioned by Norco – Australia’s oldest and largest 100% farmer owned dairy co-operative – in partnership with the National Farmers’ Federation, has found that in recent years, nearly half of Australian farmers (45%) have felt depressed, with almost two thirds (64%) experiencing anxiety. For one in seven (14%), it’s a frequent experience.
Even more devastating, close to half of Australian farmers (45%) have had thoughts of self-harm or suicide, while close to a third (30%) have attempted self-harm or suicide.
Shining a spotlight on a national health crisis needing urgent attention, this data adds to existing bodies of research which found that one farmer commits suicide every 10 days2 and Australian farmers are twice as likely to commit suicide when compared to the general population2.
More than a quarter of farmers (27%) say feelings of loneliness or isolation, combined with limited access to mental health services have had the biggest impact on their mental health over the past five years.
Impact of natural disasters
According to the Report, the top three factors impacting farmer mental health were weather or natural disasters (47%), financial stress (36%) and inflation and cost pressures (35%).
Quantifying the impact across the country, it also found that 88% of Australian farmers have had their farming operation significantly impacted by natural disasters over the past five years, with an average cost of $1.4 million per farm.
When asked what was most emotionally taxing about the experience, more than half (54%) cited the financial burden, followed by the impact on animals and loss of stock (39%), and the physical rebuild and recovery process (37%).
One in five Aussie farmers (20%) reported feeling completely defeated and wanting to give up following an event, and of the 40% of farmers who have contemplated leaving the industry, close to a quarter cite the impact of natural disasters as the main reason why.
Michael Hampson, Norco Chief Executive Officer comments that while the research findings are incredibly saddening, it was important to be able to understand just how pronounced the issue of mental health had become, especially in light of recent natural disasters.
“We saw first-hand the devastating impacts the unprecedented flooding event twelve months ago combined with the ongoing wet weather has on our farmers, many of whom are still rebuilding physically, financially, and emotionally.
“Overlay this with years of heavy drought, bushfires and now rising input costs across all farming sectors and it’s unfortunately the reality that many farmers are doing it tough
The research has solidified an issue that we were concerned existed, however the breadth and depth of this issue is really quite profound. What we now need to do is consider how we, as an industry and a country for that
matter, can help address these challenges and work collectively to better support our highly valued and hardworking farmers well into the future,” he says.
