increase font size
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says while people are opening about mental health, there’s still disproportionately high rates of suicide and depression in rural communities.
“As a country, and as a farming sector, we desperately need to move the conversation beyond just talking about it,” says Langford.
“We need to do something to change the trajectory of those statistics.
His comments come as the country marked mental health awareness week from September 22-29.
Langford the farming sector has recently presented a rural mental health strategy to the Government and wants them to work with Feds to both fund and implement it.
“This strategy is the result of significant collaboration between all those in the rural sector, including Young Farmers, Rural Women, Federated Farmers and the levy bodies.”
Langford says the foundation of this strategy would essentially see a single pool of money go into a contestable fund to make sure it gets to where it’s needed most, with accountability for those results overseen by those in the rural sector.
“At the moment, there’s a lot of good stuff going on to improve rural mental health, with the likes of Rural Support Trust, Farmstrong, and Surfing for Farmers – and we want to see that continue.
“The new strategy is about building on that good work, co-funding projects that make a difference, and ensuring there’s high-level oversight and coordination across the country to make sure we’re hitting the right spots.
“We’ll be pushing the Government to get this across the line so that when next year’s Mental Health Awareness Week comes around, we’re not just talking about the problem, but we’ll have proactive solutions in action.”
Langford acknowledges that when it comes to talking about mental health, the country has come a long way in recent years.
“It wasn’t long ago it was almost viewed as a dark and shameful thing that nobody would ever own up to,” he says.
A huge reduction in ACC claims from on-farm accidents over the last five years is due to thousands of small, practical decisions being made in sheds, yards, paddocks and around kitchen tables across the country, says Safer Farms ambassador Lindy Nelson.
Certainty and a clear understanding of the needs of rural communities is a critical outcome in the series of government reforms that are taking place at present.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.
Red meat farmers are using higher farmgate returns to make their farms more resilient, says Federated Farmers meat and wool industry group chair Richard Dawkins.
Newly appointed Federated Farmers vice president Sandra Faulkner says she is honoured and excited to hold the role.
OPINION: Farmers are being put on notice by the Green Party.
As dairy farmers lock in plans for the upcoming mating season, a partnership between Fonterra and Silver Fern Farms has been formed with the aim of making it simpler to create additional value from calves not entering the replacement herd.
Farmers can now get a more reliable view of pasture covers across their farm, thanks to a combination of three data sources.
A warning to dairy farmers not to expect the same good conditions that they experienced last season, has been issued by a leading farm consultant.
South Waikato farmer Bas Nelis is always interested in fine-tuning his business to improve results.
On a farm in Tikorangi, North Taranaki, Brent Stevenson is sharemilking 1,400 cows.
OPINION: Central Hawke's Bay farmer Mark Warren recently told the Hawke's Bay Times it's time for a conversation about allowing…
OPINION: A nation that relies as heavily as NZ does on functional global shipping lanes will have to do its…
