Charities are expecting a rise in calls from farmers dealing with mental health challenges as the closure of auction marts and cancellations of shows add to their rural isolation.
Stephanie Berkeley from the Farm Safety Foundation highlighted how a limited ability for farmers to escape the farm this summer due to Covid-19 restrictions could yield an increase in mental health problems.
Speaking on the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers' (RABDF) Milk Digest podcast, she said: “When the sources and circles of the community are not there that is when we will start to see farmers struggling.
"They have been through lambing, calving, silaging, and will be moving onto harvest, but where is their outlet?”
She said farmers must be encouraged to take some time off the farm to protect their own mental well-being even if it was just an hour to go for a walk.
Ms Berkeley also encouraged farmers to get to grips with their mental health threshold.
“People should really start to look at what they can deal with and know their limits and what might bring them to the point to push them over the edge," she said.
"Knowing this and realising the signs and symptoms are important.”
She added that if anyone had symptoms of depression for two weeks or more then it was important they contacted their GP for a clinical diagnosis.
Ms Berkeley said: “It’s important to remember mental health is not just about depression. Bulimia, anorexia and OCD are all mental health conditions.”
Also speaking on the Milk Digest was Irish dairy farmer Peter Hynes, who emphasised the importance of farmers taking time away from the farm.
The County Cork farmer first struggled with mental health 30 years ago and said it was something he had learned to cope with.
“It isn’t ever something you recover from, but you learn the coping mechanism. It is vital you take time off the farm, even if that is an hour to go out for breakfast somewhere.
"It is also important to understand you can’t take on every challenge yourself,” he said.
Both Ms Berkeley and Mr Hynes are encouraging farmers to reach out through outlets such as their GP, farming charities like the Farming Community Network, social media or through family and friends.
Ms Berkeley added; “There is a lot of practical advice and support. Farmers are also very good at supporting each other.”
Information from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found 83 people who worked in agriculture in England and Wales in 2018 took their own life.
Globally, one in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives according to the World Health Organisation.
