A disconnection with food and negative media coverage of farming’s impact on the environment is affecting producers’ mental health. David Burrows reports.
Farmers feel disconnected and lonely which is leading to mental health problems like depression and anxiety, according to a new study.
A lack of public appreciation for farmers and understanding of the work they do and the pressures they are under contributes to feelings of loneliness, researchers from the University of Exeter’s centre for rural policy research and national charity The Farming Community Network (FCN) found.
The experts carried out in-depth interviews with 22 farmers, members of farming families and six farm support practitioners in England. Many farmers who were interviewed as part of the study felt undervalued, identifying a feeling of ‘disconnect’ between farmers and wider society, and a lack of understanding from the general public about what is involved in farming and its unique pressures. Loneliness was found in the study to be linked to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Some of the farmers interviewed had even been subjected to abusive behaviour, including being sworn at during the course of their working day.
A 2022 study by the Farm Safety Foundation found that 92% of UK farmers under 40 cited poor mental health as the biggest problem they faced. The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution this year launched new support services after finding that over a third of farming people are “probably or possibly depressed”.
Many farmers who took part in the new research described or alluded to a strong sense of disconnection with the wider public, and of feeling undervalued and misunderstood by government and society, explained Rebecca Wheeler, senior research fellow at the University of Exeter’s centre for rural policy research.
The study also found that farmers are keen to highlight the vital role they play in producing food, and the positive actions they are taking to care for and improve the environment. However, they feel these are often overlooked in media stories about agriculture and environmental issues such as climate change. “[…] pressures to improve the environmental performance of farming have increased the exposure and sensitivity of farmers to negative media coverage of the issues and critical public opinion,” the experts wrote in their paperfor the journal Sociologia Ruralis.
Agriculture is responsible for around 10% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, and there has been heated debate in particular around the need to reduce consumption of meat and dairy products in order to meet the country’s (and the world’s) net-zero commitments.
There is hope that current interest in regenerative agriculture will help people reconnect with food, and provide farmers with a more positive environmental narrative. “It seems increasingly clear that the price of modern industrial farming has not just been ecological. A human cost has been paid too,” wrote farmer Sarah Langford recently in a piece for Wicked Leeks.
Some of the foodservice companies interviewed for an upcoming Footprint report on better meat, in association with RSPCA Assured, told of how they are working with smaller numbers of producers and this has improved collaboration and communication. “Farmers are now an integral part of our team – as they always should have been,” said one high street chain.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also seen connections to the people behind our food increase significantly, noted Solitaire Townsend, co-founder at Futerra, during a webinar detailing the results of the ‘food revolution barometer’ it ran with Bloom Analytics and Danone. “There is still a disconnection with agriculture, space, and, you know, understanding where their food is coming from, who is growing their food, who is taking care of the cows, and how it’s also reaching them and the practices that are put in place,” said Roxanne Clement, global senior sustainability manager at Danone.
The Exeter and FCN researchers said connections between farming and non-farming communities need to be strengthened. This should include a “more positive and empathetic approach from government and regulators when it comes to shaping and enforcing policy and legislative requirements”.
“The issue of the sense of disconnection between farming and non-farming people has come up repeatedly in our research over a number of years,” said Professor Matt Lobley, co-director of the centre for rural policy research at the University of Exeter. “Farming people are key workers and we should all have a stake in helping improve their health and wellbeing.”
