The National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) is pleased to announce a new sponsorship agreement with Metalcorp, supporting our mission to “make a difference to farmers’ lives” by striving to improve the health, wellbeing and safety of farmers, farm workers and their families.

Dr Susan Brumby, Director of the National Centre for Farmer Health said, “As the rural brand for the land, Metalcorp’s corporate support of the NCFH makes sense and provides vital funding to aid our research and support our ongoing activities to improve farmer health.”

In a recent report by Grains Research Development Corporation (GRDC) it was revealed that, “farmers were half as likely to visit a general practitioner (GP) or a mental health professional as non-farm workers.”

The NCFH has been operating since November 2008, as a partnership between Western District Health Service and Deakin University’s School of Medicine. It is unique in Australia in its capacity to undertake clinical activities, academic research and education and training within the specialist field of agricultural health and medicine.

“Our new association with Metalcorp, will enable us to extend the reach of our service delivery across rural Australia as well as enhance our research capabilities. Better positioning the NCFH to close the existing gap between the health, wellbeing and safety status of Australian farmers and agricultural workers and their urban cousins.” Dr Brumby said.

Dr Brumby explained, “The NCFH researches ways to reduce illness and injury among agricultural workers and corporate support, that does not compromise the integrity of our research, is greatly appreciated,” she said.

“One of the important research projects we have recently undertaken is the Ripple Effect, which is an online intervention program, designed to reduce the stigma around the experience of suicide among males from the farming community aged 30-64 years. Developing an association with corporate partners such as Metalcorp will enable us to expand the reach of established programs such as these,” Dr Brumby said.

National Sales and Marketing Manager for Metalcorp Lester Kirkwood said, “Metalcorp will help raise awareness of programs such as these by providing space at our Field Day sites to enable customers access to free presentations by agrihealth professionals from the NCFH.”

“As many of the Metalcorp customers are active on the land this partnership makes good sense. With a safety focus in the design and manufacturing of all Metalcorp’s products, we will take  a further step to have our livestock handling equipment reviewed by NCFH to enable a tick of approval indicating it can be operated effectively and safely by both women and men,  that work in the rural sector,” Mr Kirkwood said.

To identify that this safety review has been completed, look for the NCFH “tick of approval” sticker located on the Metalcorp livestock handling equipment.

This is a first for the rural sector and lifts the bar on safe use of equipment for handling rural livestock.

Metalcorp provides a percentage of every sale to help fund the NCFH’s research programs and field work, which is designed to deliver better health, wellbeing and safety outcomes for farmers.

For further information please contact: Prof Susan Brumby susan.brumby@wdhs.net