Mental health of Teesside young farmers have 'steadily decreased'
Farm Safety Foundation has published a new report
Last updated 1st May 2025
We are hearing the mental health among young farmers across the North East and Teesside has deteriorated over the past four years.
New research from Farm Safety Foundation shows 9 in 10 agree it is the 'biggest hidden problem' facing the industry today.
It comes as the charity is aiming to raise awareness of, and tackle the stigma around poor mental health in the industry, as part of their 'Mind Your Head' campaign.
2\9 year-old Lizzie McLaughlin is a young farmer from Middlesbrough and she said: "I came into the industry about seven years ago and coming from that non-farming background, I think it's been such an eye opener for me.
"Speaking to people on the ground, farmers on the ground, being involved in things like helping in the milking parlour for instance, I've noticed actually just how many challenges on farms there actually are; be that isolation, long hours, you're often working where you live, there's a lot of external pressures that you can't necessarily control so the weather for instance, political changes, there's just so much that impacts actually the products and produce that we buy from the shelves.
"I do a lot on social media of sharing my own mental helath journey so I've had severe depression, anxiety and OCD. I think a really good tool has been social media because of isolation you can just pick up your phone and you can talk to people through podcasts and things. It makes you feel a lot less alone.
"A lot of people have reached out and have opened up about what they've been going through, their mental health journeys, the impact of the inheritance tax, the uncertainty of the future and I think with the power of social media, they've been able to talk to people and campaigners like Mind Your Head is such a good way to break down stigmas and to allow people to open up.
"There are so many diverse people within the industry, so many young people that I think it can sometimes have a generational gap. Sometimes there's that pressure of the next generation but actually I think there's a real positive here of on social media, there's a lot of younger farming faces who are talking about the mental health stigmas."
Farm Safety Foundation says there is no doubt that 2024 was a challenging year for farming in the UK and, given the added stress farmers are currently experiencing, ensuring farmers and farm workers prioritise both their physical and mental wellbeing has never been more important.
It added that the reality of a farmer’s life is that there are multiple reasons identified as contributing to poor mental health in the industry. The known pressures on farmers - including traditional farm stressors, contextual stressors and barriers to support, coupled with the impact of measures announced in the Autumn budget - are leading to increased levels of stress and uncertainty in the farming community.
Recent months have seen farmers travel from their fields to the front of the Houses of Parliament and supermarket car parks to show their frustration at the new wave of tax measures being introduced in April 2026. Measures that are increasing levels of uncertainty and anxiety and adding serious concerns about an uncertain future for the industry and food production in the country.
The charity’s research showed that, on average, farmers worked longer hours in 2024 than they did in 2023. On average a full-time worker in the UK works 36.4 hours per week, however UK farmers work an average of 60 hours a week with an alarming 44% of those aged between 41 and 60 years working more than 81 hours a week.
1 in 3 farmers (33%) who work more than 9 hours a day admit to having had an accident or a near miss in the past 12 months demonstrating the link between long hours and working safely.
When mental wellbeing is factored in, the evidence revealed that farmers with lower mental wellbeing scores were significantly more likely to admit to working unsafely and risk-taking, something that raises alarm bells with the Farm Safety Foundation, especially as their research shows that the levels of mental wellbeing in those working in the industry have been steadily deteriorating over the past four years.
Stephanie Berkeley is from the charity and she said: “This has been a challenging time for farming – the most challenging I can recall. The pressures on farmers today are unlike anything we've seen before. Farming has always been one of the most demanding industries, but the added strain of long hours, rural isolation and financial insecurity is putting farmers at risk. For us to change the cultural reluctance to discuss mental health, we need to listen and learn what young farmers are feeling, what their attitudes are and what they are doing to address it themselves.”
“We are a small charity and have been running the Mind Your Head campaign for eight years now so, to have such a high-profile guest interested in what we are doing means the issue can have greater visibility.
"Farming is an industry dedicated to working the land, conserving our countryside and producing food to the highest standards. Farmers put food on our tables three times a day but they are going through a rough time at the minute so they should be supported and protected.
"While we are seeing more openness around what used to be such a taboo subject, we have to continue to break down the stigma surrounding mental health, normalise conversations and sow the seeds of wellbeing and resilience in the sector.”