Friday, 27 September 2024 17:33

'Time to go beyond just talking about mental health'

Written by  Sudesh Kissun
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford. 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.

More like this

Turning NZ into a pine plantation

Federated Farmers meat and wool chair, Toby Williams says what the Government has effectively signed up for is a decade more of planting pine trees on productive land because that’s the only way for our country to achieve such a steep reduction.

A steep learning curve

A steep learning curve, a very busy year and thank heavens for tractor therapy. That's how Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard described his first year in Parliament to reporter Peter Burke at his dairy farm in the Manawatu during the holiday break.

Follow the leaders

OPINION: Farmers are urging Kiwi banks and their overseas parent companies to follow the lead of America's six biggest banks and urgently withdraw from the Net Zero Banking Alliance.

Featured

Fruit fly discovery 'concerning'

Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) says that discovery of a male Oriental fruit fly on Auckland’s North Shore is a cause for concern for growers.

Fonterra updates earnings

Fonterra says its earnings for the 2025 financial year are anticipated to be in the upper half of its previously forecast earnings range of 40-60 cents per share.

Nedap NZ launch

Livestock management tech company Nedap has launched Nedap New Zealand.

National

FE survey underway

Beef + Lamb NZ wants farmers to complete a survey that will shed light on the financial toll of facial…

Top dairy CEO quits

Arguably one of the country's top dairy company's chief executives, Richard Wyeth has abruptly quit Chinese owned Westland Milk Products…

Machinery & Products

New home for JCB Agriculture

Power Farming has announced a new chapter in its partnership with JCB, which having represented the UK-based company’s construction equipment…

CAT's 100th anniversary

While instantly recognised as the major player in construction equipment, Caterpillar Inc, more commonly known as CAT, has its roots…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Ruth reckons

OPINION: Ruth Richardson, architect of the 1991 ‘Mother of all Budgets’ and the economic reforms dubbed ‘Ruthanasia’, added her two…

Veg, no meat?

OPINION: Why do vegans and others opposed to eating meat try to convince others that a plant based diet is…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter