Key farming figures attend Farm Safety Foundation conference

The charity, which was set up by NFU Mutual in 2014, is celebrating a decade providing farm safety and mental wellbeing training, support and services to the next generation of farmers.

Representatves from farming unions in the UK and Ireland, government ministers, agricultural bodies and businessses and farmers came together to share ideas at the conference. 

James Chapman MBE, chairman of trustees, called on attendees to make the day a 'turning point', highlighting the importance of having meaningful conversations to help find a way forward. 

Sir Mark Spencer, Farming Minister, said: “It is really important that we raise awareness of the mental health impact in farming and I’d like to pay a huge tribute to those charities and individuals that are involved in doing that work.

"There is no doubt that farming is often not an easy job with long hours in remote rural areas and I am pleased to see the growing awareness in recent years of farming mental health.”

The conference included two breakout panels. One was led by farming advocate Joe Stanley, who addressed the industry's 'alarming' safety record. 

He said: “5% of all those killed on UK farms are children. This is a shocking mark on our industry’s conscience … How we can improve farm safety comes down to leadership. Individual leadership, organisational leadership, media leadership. We need to be calling out incidences of bad practice when we see them.

“We have to make it socially unacceptable to be doing what are clearly dangerous practices.”

BBC Countryfile's Adam Henson led the mental health panel and discussed the importance of farmers prioritising themselves. 

“We all suffer, in some shape or form, with mental health and it shouldn’t be a stigma, it shouldn’t be taboo, it is something that is part of our everyday life, part of our commonality," he added.

"We have a very exciting agricultural industry that is innovative, entrepreneurial, technological, forward-thinking, and driving food production … we need to communicate to the consumer and to each other that there is a lot of positive and good stuff out there.”

The day was drawn to a close by Stephenie Barkeley, Farm Safety Foundation manager. 

“There couldn’t have been a better way for us to celebrate 10 years of challenging and changing behaviours to risk-taking and poor mental health in our sector," she said.

"The day underscored the importance of having open and honest conversations across the industry about farm safety and mental well-being.

“We are seeing attitudes and behaviours starting to change but today has given us a real sense of optimism for even more from the industry. The fact that we can bring 120 key industry figures from across the UK and Ireland to discuss and debate two topics that, ten years ago, would have been shied away from is proof of that. The fact that there are initiatives across the UK and Ireland that are working and the fact that government, the farming unions, retailers and key farming organisations are willing to sit down and explore a way forward is something to be TRULY optimistic about.”