The Manx National Farmers Union (MNFU) has reiterated that initiatives are in place to improve mental health support for farmers in the island.

This comes after research found that nine in 10 farmers in the UK think that mental health is the ‘biggest hidden problem’ facing the industry today.

This research, which was undertaken by the rural charity ‘Farm Safety Foundation’ (otherwise known as ‘Yellow Wellies’), also found that mental wellbeing among young farmers has been ‘steadily decreasing’ over the past four years, while 44 suicides were registered in England and Wales among the farming and agricultural industry in 2022.

Links were also made in the research to the fact that UK farmers work an average of 60 hours per week, despite the average full-time UK worker doing 36.4 hours per week.

Despite the research findings, the MNFU have stated that there is different avenues of mental health support for farmers across the Isle of Man.

This support has recently been enhanced by specialist training and increased resources, as well as a brand new initiative put together by the MNFU.

Sarah Comish, general secretary at the MNFU, said: ‘We have indeed been working on establishing our own support network, and have been supported by Yellow Wellies and Isle Listen among others for resources.

‘We now have a core group of volunteers who have undertaken initial first aider training along with the director of agriculture Chris Kneale, while DEFA have fully supported us with this.

‘We also have a mental health first aider in every branch of the MNFU, along with our resources in office with myself and my colleague Carolyn Layce.’

The brand new initiative which has recently been launched is called ‘Greener Grass’, which consists of six lead representatives - five from the MNFU and one from DEFA.

The groups of ‘first contacts’ has been formed to educate, support and assist those involved either directly or indirectly in the agricultural and farming industry in the Isle of Man with regards to wellbeing and mental health.

The first aiders have been trained to listen and understand different situations so that they can signpost certain issues to appropriate support networks.

‘Farming is a way of life and so much more than just a job, but it is one that can involve long days working on your own and loneliness can be a big factor,’ Sarah added.

‘The struggle of unpredictable weather, changing government policies around land use and food production, public perceptions of the industry, huge amounts of compliance and paperwork along with cash flow problems can be overwhelming.

‘It is also very important for us to make sure that stigma around mental health is removed, and that it is OK to not be OK.

‘We want to raise awareness among the industry that it’s good to check in on each other, and to encourage people to ask the question “are you ok?”’

More information on the new initiative can be found on the ‘Greener Grass MNFU Wellbeing’ Facebook page.