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.
OPINION: Recent media commentary from Southland Federated Farmers has raised concerns among our rural communities, particularly around Environment Southland’s approach to winter grazing inspections and nitrogen reporting. But let’s be clear, much of what’s been said simply doesn’t reflect reality.
OPINION: Environment Canterbury's (ECan) decision recently to declare a so-called “nitrate emergency” is laughable.
A shameless political stunt is how Federated Farmers is describing the Canterbury Regional Council decision to declare “a nitrate emergency” on the back of its latest annual groundwater quality survey.
Federated Farmers say Environment Canterbury's decision to declare a 'nitrate emergency' is a shameless political stunt that won't help anyone.
Farmers want the Government to scrap controversial freshwater rules that "put river spirits and ideology ahead of practical water use", says Federated Farmers board member Mark Hooper.
Relationships are key to opening new trading opportunities and dealing with some of the rules that countries impose that impede the free flow of trade.
Dawn Meats chief executive Niall Browne says their joint venture with Alliance Group will create “a dynamic industry competitor”.
Tributes have flowed following the death of former Prime Minister and political and business leader, Jim Bolger. He was 90.
A drop in methane targets announced by the Government this month has pleased farmers but there are concerns that without cross-party support, the targets would change once a Labour-led Government is voted into office.
Farmer shareholders of meat processor Alliance have voted in favour of a proposed $270 million joint venture investment by Irish company, Dawn Meats.
The former chair of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and farmer, Doug Leeder, says rural communities' biggest fear right now is the lack of long-term certainty over environmental regulations.
OPINION: Media luvvies at Stuff, the Spinoff and the Granny Herald are spending more time than ever navel-gazing about why…
OPINION: Why does it take Treasury so long to turn around its figures on how the economy is tracking?
