Season 2 of Adam Henson's Farmer's Wellbeing Podcast is Out Now

A shocking 92% of UK farmers under the age of 40 rank poor mental health as the biggest hidden problem facing farmers today, a recent study by the Farm Safety Foundation has revealed (an increase from 82% in 2018). It has been shown that farmers have higher levels of mental ill-health than non­ farmers, research conducted by RABI in 2021 found that 1 in 3 farming people were possibly or probably depressed.

Having lost a close friend who died by suicide and learning about the troubling statistics around mental health issues in the farming community, I created the Keeping on Track farmer's wellbeing podcast series, in collaboration with health and prevention specialists, The Sound Doctor, launched in October 2023. The feedback has been so positive from the farming community, that this has been followed up by a second series of Keeping on Track.

I have lived on a farm and been involved in farming all my life. As anyone working in farming knows, every day brings potential joy and disaster- you never quite know what is going to happen and there are many things you can't control. This is one of the reasons for the high suicide rate within the farming sector."

The aim of the series is to encourage more communication within the farming sector so people don't have to suffer in silence and can receive support before it's too late.

I was at an event recently, and a lady came up to me and said " You saved my husband’s life". When quizzed, she explained that he's a farm a manager and had been in a very dark place mentally but the podcast series has given him a huge lift and helped him seek support. We hugged and both shed a tear. I thought to myself that if we've helped just one person then it's a job well done."

“At Yorkshire Agricultural Society's Rural Support Network AGM, interest was piqued by feedback from a farming-focussed psychiatrist who gave a case history concerning a farmer struggling to cope but refusing to accept that he was struggling which was resulting in an adverse impact on the whole family and the business. She sat down with the farmer and asked him to listen to some of the Keeping on Track podcasts with her. The podcasts, delivered by people who 'spoke the farmer's language', had similar experiences and who had struggled in the same way, helped him realise that he wasn't alone and that there was no shame in asking for help. Her view was that the podcasts had made the difference and she felt that the farmer and his family had got over a big hurdle to recovery.”

- Alison Lumley, Yorkshire Samaritans:

Highlights of Series 2.

We will hear from some inspirational farmers including:

• Becca Wilson, fifth generation farmer and half of the Becca and Lizzie podcast duo, Sheep farmer Tilly Abbott
• Stuart Roberts who is the former Deputy President of the NFU and current Chair of the Liberal Democrats’ newly formed Food and Farming Working Group writing the party’s new farming policies. 
• Willem Kuyken is Professor of Mindfulness and Psychological Science at Oxford University and author of “Mindfulness for Life”. He provides strategies and coping mechanisms for stressed farmers. 
•  Mike Duxbury, who is a pig farmer, a champion of inclusivity and creator of a fully working farm for disabled people. He is, he thinks, Britain’s only blind farmer. 
• We also look at some of the pressing issues facing farmers currently including farm safety, rural crime, the effect of public image on the farming community and the mental stress of inspections and how to reduce that stress and we look at how a farmer’s diet can be fundamental to staying healthy and having good mental health.