Nine out of ten farmers in the South report that mental health is the most significant hidden issue they currently face.
This information comes from data provided by the Farm Safety Foundation.
Contributing factors include new tax regulations, working 60 hours or more a week, and the challenges of living in more isolated rural communities.
This week, Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies), are running their 8th annual Mind Your Head campaign, aiming to raise awareness of, and tackle the stigma around poor mental health in the industry.
Recent research by the charity revealed that poor mental health among farmers and agricultural workers is deteriorating.
The charity says there is no doubt that 2024 was a challenging year for farming in the UK and, given the added stress farmers are currently experiencing, ensuring farmers and farm workers prioritise both their physical and mental wellbeing has never been more important.
The reality of a farmer’s life is that there are multiple reasons identified as contributing to poor mental health in the industry. The known pressures on farmers - including traditional farm stressors, contextual stressors and barriers to support, coupled with the impact of measures announced in the Autumn budget - are leading to increased levels of stress and uncertainty in the farming community.
Recent months have seen farmers travel from their fields to the front of the Houses of Parliament and supermarket car parks to show their frustration at the new wave of tax measures being introduced in April 2026. Measures that are increasing levels of uncertainty and anxiety and adding serious concerns about an uncertain future for the industry and food production in the country.
The charity’s research showed that, on average, farmers worked longer hours in 2024 than they did in 2023. On average a full-time worker in the UK works 36.4 hours*** per week, however UK farmers work an average of 60 hours a week with an alarming 44% of those aged between 41 and 60 years working more than 81 hours a week.
1 in 3 farmers (33%) who work more than 9 hours a day admit to having had an accident or a near miss in the past 12 months demonstrating the link between long hours and working safely. When mental wellbeing is factored in, the evidence revealed that farmers with lower mental wellbeing scores were significantly more likely to admit to working unsafely and risk-taking, something that raises alarm bells with the Farm Safety Foundation, especially as their research shows that the levels of mental wellbeing in those working in the industry have been steadily deteriorating over the past four years.
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