The mental wellbeing of young farmers in Ireland and the UK: driving factors, help-seeking, and support

ABSTRACT

Whilst research attention on the mental wellbeing of farmers is growing, there are few studies focused on young farmers. Our research set out to better understand the factors affecting young farmer mental wellbeing and help-seeking behaviour. We draw insights from a combined study in Ireland and the UK, supplemented by separate studies by the same author team in both places. Through the use of young farmer interviews and surveys, as well as interviews of those who support young farmers with their mental wellbeing, we identify a mixed picture of mental wellbeing and a plethora of factors affecting it. Though many of these factors have been identified in the wider literature, the impact of socialisation and time off the farm, and sexism/misogyny affecting young female farmers, were specifically identified in our study. In some cases, young farmers were considered to be better at speaking about mental wellbeing than their older counterparts, but our study indicated that some people in this demographic fail to seek assistance because of stigma, stoicism, and possible lack of confidentiality. Improving the accessibility of mental wellbeing services, as well as normalising conversations on the subject and providing support in informal social settings, were identified as key recommendations.

KEYWORDS:

• Health
• mental health
• mental wellbeing‌
• young farmers
• wellbeing

Acknowledgements

We thank all people who participated in our study or helped to distribute surveys. We thank Lorna Philip and the editorial team and the reviewers for their comments. We thank Dr Faye Shortland for all her work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Interview data is not available due to the sensitivity of the topics discussed and possibility to identify respondents. Survey data from Ireland is not available as there were no resources to anonymise and archive it. Anonymised survey data from the UK is available at https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/855791/.

Notes

1 https://www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/new-training-to-support-young-farmers-mental-health/.

2 https://www.yellowwellies.org/welcome-to-the-6th-annual-mind-your-head-week/.

3 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/602006/IPOL_STU(2017)602006_EN.pdf.

4 Ireland is predominantly a grass-based farming industry (84% of agricultural area is grass, 9% common and rough grazing) and so our interviewees covered various enterprises within the livestock sector. In Ireland 13% of farm holders are women. Around 55% of the farm workforce in the UK are women, although only 16% are registered farm holders (https://www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/let-s-value-every-player-on-the-bench/).

5 https://www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Support-Groups-directory-2021-spreads-1.pdf.

6 https://www.yellowwellies.org/welcome-to-the-6th-annual-mind-your-head-week/.

Additional information

Funding

Some of the data is taken from the project called ‘Farmer wellbeing and rural resilience through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic’ funded by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/W001535/1].