There is no doubt that 2024 was a challenging year for farming in the UK with rising production costs, intense competition from supermarkets, pressure from cheaper imported products, reduced post-Brexit subsidies and difficult weather conditions.
BY STEPHANIE BERKELEY, MANAGER, FARM SAFETY FOUNDATION
STEPHANIE BERKELEY
In a poll of nearly 800 farmers and growers carried out by NFU in May 2024, 65% of respondents said their profits were declining or their business would not survive. Our own annual tracker research also revealed that poor mental health among farmers and agricultural workers continues to be a major concern. In the sample of over 750 farmers across the UK carried out in September 2024, 9 out of 10 respondents (91%) agreed that poor mental health is the ‘biggest hidden problem’ facing the industry today.
Both surveys were carried out before the policy changes announced in the Autumn budget…
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.
From the BSE outbreak of the 80s, to Foot & Mouth in 2001 to Brexit in 2018, farming in the UK has weathered many crises over the years however this emerging mental health crisis in the industry may prove the most devastating.
The reality of a farmer’s life is that there are multiple reasons identified as contributing to stress and poor mental health. According to RABI’s Big Farming Survey in 2021, four factors are widely cited as significant by the farming community, causing stress to quite a lot or a large extent:
- regulation, compliance and inspection (45%),
- the Covid-19 pandemic (44%),
- bad or unpredictable weather (43%); and
- loss of subsidies/future trade deals (40%)
However, our research showed additional contributors that have an impact on poor mental wellbeing and increased risk-taking… On average, farmers in the UK worked longer hours in 2024 than they did in 2023. The average number of hours a full-time worker in the UK works per week is 36.4 hours, 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 should raise alarm bells in the industry with the poorest safety record in the UK (HSE).
This week, our 8th annual Mind Your Head campaign will continue to raise awareness of the various challenges facing the UK’s farming industry, break down the stigma attached to poor mental health, and sow the seeds of wellbeing and resilience in the sector.
This has been a challenging time for farming – the most challenging I can recall.
The pressures on farmers today are unlike anything we’ve seen before. Farming has always been one of the most demanding industries, but the added strain of long hours, rural isolation and financial insecurity is putting farmers at risk. For us to change the cultural reluctance to discuss mental health, we need to listen and learn what farmers are feeling, what their attitudes are and what they are doing to address it.
While we are seeing more openness around what used to be such a taboo subject, we have to remember that we all have mental health. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s not so good, a bit like farming. There are always highs and lows but every day brings a fresh start. The sun will rise and we’re the lucky ones up early enough to see it shine.
Today, and every day, please Mind Your Head
