“You’ll struggle to find anybody who doesn’t know somebody who unfortunately has taken their own life"
A Boroughbridge farmer, who runs podcast Boots and Heels, and her co-host say more people in the industry are struggling with poor mental health
Last updated 16th Feb 2022
A farmer from Boroughbridge has told us that mental health is becoming such an issue in the industry, that most farmers know someone who has taken their own life.
To try and encourage people who work in the farming sector to talk about their mental health, farm safety charity Yellow Wellies has launched their fifth Mind Your Head campaign this week.
Poor mental health is having a direct link to the safety of farms, as 92% of farmers under the age of 40 believe mental wellbeing is their biggest hidden problem, research from Yellow Wellies revealed.
Becca Wilson, who runs a family farm in Boroughbridge, and Lizzie McLaughlin, who is the Audience and Community Editor at Farmers Weekly, both host a podcast together called Boots and Heels.
Wilson, who was brought up with a farming background, wasn’t surprised at just how big of an issue mental health is in the agricultural sector.
“You’ll struggle to find anybody who doesn’t know somebody who unfortunately has taken their own life or got into a crisis kind of state through the spectrum of just thinking is today a bad day or actually I’m at a point where I can’t continue and I know loads of people unfortunately,” she explained.
“Day to day unfortunately things come before you every day – your animals, whatever needs to be done in the fields. You are so far down the list of priorities that sometimes you don’t take enough time for yourself.
“Farming is very much this macho stereotype, you’re robust because of the physical nature of the work and you’ve got to keep doing your hours and you just keep going and going and going. But it’s a really dangerous perspective to have to think that we’re farmers so we’re too robust to talk about mental health.”
Boots and Heels released a Yellow Wellies special this week where they revealed their own personal challenges with their mental wellbeing and discussed the stigma around the topic in the farming industry.
They presented this alongside former Emmerdale actor turned farmer Kelvin Fletcher and the reigning champion of the Farmers Weekly Britain’s Fittest Farmer James Arney.
Although she doesn’t work on a farm herself, McLaughlin recognised that farmers spend a lot of time alone when out working but she believes that by listening to the podcast it allows them to feel connected to other people and therefore not feel as isolated.
McLaughlin said:
“It’s isolation, it’s that loneliness and I think people like myself who come from a non-farming background, I’d like to think now that the public could resonate with that more after things like the pandemic.
“If you are out in the field, if you’re in your tractor, you can listen to the podcast, you can listen to other people and what they’re going through. And we’re very fortunate that social media has been quite a big thing for us so we can connect with a lot of people - we get a lot of messages from people in and out of the industry.
“I’ve always struggled with anxiety since I was a child and it wasn’t really until lockdown and the pandemic that I actually faced that and realised, there’s something going on here. And it wasn’t until I started talking to people that you realise actually, you’re not alone and asking for help is not a sign of weakness.”
Yellow Wellies Mind Your Head campaign runs from February 14 – February 18.