This week (11th-15th February) marks the start of this year’s ‘Mind Your Head’ campaign, led by the Farm Safety Foundation.
Mind Your Head aims to raise awareness of the mental health issues within the farming industry, with a huge 81% of farmers under 40 believing that mental health is the biggest hidden problem they face today.
There are a number of mental health risk factors associated with agriculture. Farmers work long hours, often in isolation. They can be under significant financial pressure, often required to take on significant debt just to purchase the land and equipment required to operate. And in most cases, a farmer’s place of business is also his or her home, meaning there is no easy way to get away from the workload.
In addition, farmers are constantly vulnerable to unusual events and circumstances that can impact their bottom line and stress levels – from weather and natural disasters to major uncertainties like Brexit.
This week, the Farm Safety Foundation are working with a number of organisations and people to ask the farming community to ‘Mind Your Head’ with this campaign to raise awareness and tackle the stigma of a serious and growing issue in farming.
You can find out more information about the campaign here: www.yellowwellies.org/the-hidden-danger-mind-your-head-over-the-coming-weeks/