Episode 4: “Communication – it’s more than words”

In this episode, John Broons, a family business advisor and coach, and Hugh McDonald, a sheep farmer from SW VIC discuss exactly what we mean by ‘communication’ in farming, some common challenges to healthy communication in production enterprises, and how properly engaging with your family and workers can help to build a happy, healthy workplace.

Now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and here.

This podcast is part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network led by the National Centre for Farmer Health to promote mentally healthy workplaces. Campfire, part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network, was funded by the Victorian State Government’s WorkSafe WorkWell Mental Health Improvement Fund.

Communication – it’s more than words… and worth more than you think

This topic will be discussed as part of our online bonfire on July 28 at 7:30pm, “Communication – It’s More Than Words.”

It may be crass to talk about money, but Mitchell* has always planned to be a millionaire farmer by the time he’s 40. And at 29, he’s well on track.

But just last year, he was close to leaving his family’s farm near Wangaratta in north-east Victoria altogether, as his working relationship with his parents had deteriorated and it was starting to affect Mitchell’s mental health and wellbeing.

Growing up, he had a fantastic relationship with his parents. He loved every aspect of looking after their sheep and growing the crops. He enjoyed the physical work as much as the business side of farming.

However,  a few years ago relations with his Mum and Dad became strained after Mitchell pushed them to buy an extra 300 hectares of land from the neighbour.

“Mum and Dad agreed and initially seemed happy about growing the business”, Mitchell said.

“But then they almost seemed resentful and started watching the money like a hawk. And when I would try to talk to them about buying more land, they’d basically shut down, change the subject, or leave the room.” Mitchell didn’t know it at the time, but the financial pressure and increasing levels of debt was making his mum particularly stressed and anxious.

For Mitchell, this was devastating. He knew he was a good farmer, who had studied and understood business. He presented his parents with budgets, plans and even approvals from the bank. But it eventually reached a point where he thought it would be better investing his time slowly building a farm of his own, rather than working with his parents.

What saved the family – and the farm, was sitting down with a family business professional, who helped them create a clear line between the workplace and family relationships. It also enabled the family to understand that stress from workplace conflict was also affecting the functioning and productivity of the family business.

“When you start thinking about each other in a work context, then you quickly realise, that it’s a problem of communication,” Mitchell said.

Poor workplace relationships and poor support in the workplace are two work-related risks to mental health that were impacting Mitchell’s family and their business, and these can both be addressed by improving communication in the workplace.

Worksafe Victoria has information on how poor communication can cause stress and lead to mental health problems, adding to feelings of injustice (such as in Mitchell’s case). It advises managers or members of a family business to ensure there is regular communication, opportunities to raise and address and issues (such as team meetings) and to start a conversation, at the earliest sign of stress, in an open and respectful way.

John Broons is a Family Business specialist and says many farming families avoid talking about the big issues.

“If we just talk about the business and we don’t talk about the family stuff, then we are just putting our heads in the sand and we are not going to be prepared when change occurs within the family that affects the business,” John told Farm Weekly.

“The dynamics of families in business is not just about accounting. The business can be quantified – when there is a discussion about the business we go straight to the numbers – but I can’t tell you the profit or loss of your children, it’s a very different equation,” he said.

Factors which influence our ability to communicate, include:

• Family history
• Communication style
• Self-esteem of individuals 
• The different styles of communication between the generations

Mitchell says he now understands that while he was talking to his parents, he wasn’t effectively communicating and that was causing conflict and poor workplace relationships

“I’ve come to realise that I can be a bit like a bull at a gate when I want to pursue an idea,” he said.

“I also understand where my parents are coming from – I didn’t know before that Mum’s mother was left to retire on nothing because of some bad farm business decisions.”

Mitchell said his parents are also working on their own financial barriers and learning to trust him more.

“And I’m pleased to say I’ve convinced the folks to buy another block of land, ” Mitchell said.

“I know a million bucks is not really worth much if you don’t have your family by your side. So that’s my focus. ”

When it comes to running the family farm, investing in mental health initiatives is not only good for your family and staff, but it’s good for business too. The NCFH is supporting farmers just like you to manage and respond to work-related risks that impact on workplace mental health – these are factors in your work that can affect an employee’s mental health and include high job demands, low job control, poor job support and more. Managing these factors, means decreasing the risk of work-related stress, which can prevent physical injury, mental injury or even both at the same time. Find out more about being mentally safe on the farm at www.farmerhealth.org.au/campfire.

Survey seeks info on Quadbike use on farms | Stock & Land

INFO: A survey of farmers and their use of quad bikes to apply sprays has been developed by student researcher Jordan Walker. 

Written by Alastair Dowie for Stock & Land, published on 22nd July 2021

National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) student researcher Jordan Walker wants to understand the use of quadbikes for spraying on the farm.

The rise in quadbike related fatalities in Australia last year, combined with minimal quadbike spraying research in Australia, makes this new research particularly vital.

For many Victorian farmers, the quadbike is vital to everyday farm operations, with their use in tasks such as mustering, transport, hunting and spraying.

However, while quadbikes can be incredibly helpful on the farm, they can also be a dangerous vehicle that has the potential to cause injury.

Jordan Walker said the survey was part of his thesis for his honors year of his Bachelor of Health and Medical Science.

He said the farming side of health had always been an interest.

He also had a brother who was involved in an accident on a quad bike.

He said at this stage there were about 30 responses with the survey period to late August.

One of the aims was to see how widespread the use of quad bikes to spray.

“Once I dive a bit more into the responses I will be able to get more results,” he said.

NCFH is seeking farmers and agricultural workers around Victoria to participate in an online survey.

The survey will only take 5 to 10 minutes, with questions about your farm, quadbike use and agrichemical use.

The Quadbike spraying and injury surveillance project (QuadSIS) aims to help researchers understand:

• extent to which quadbikes are used for spraying on the farm
• the types of agrichemicals applied using quadbikes
• whether spraying on a quadbike creates increased risks that may lead to injury

Participation in the QuadSIS project will help inform more targeted education into how farmers can use their quadbike to safely apply agrichemicals without putting their health and safety at risk.

For more information contact Jordan Walker, Student Researcher, on walkerjor@deakin.edu.au

Follow this link to view original article

Episode 3: New to Farming: Learning from Experience

In this episode, Melissa Connors, who runs This Farm Needs a Farmer, and Julie Crowle discuss their experiences of starting out in farming, how they found success despite various challenges, how they sourced great advice and built their skills, and how they are building mentally healthy farming enterprises by managing their workload and putting preventative strategies in place.

Now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and here.

This podcast is part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network led by the National Centre for Farmer Health to promote mentally healthy workplaces. Campfire, part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network, was funded by the Victorian State Government’s WorkSafe WorkWell Mental Health Improvement Fund.

The realities of starting a farm from scratch

This topic will be discussed as part of our online bonfire on July 14 at 7:30pm, “New to Farming – Learning from Experience.”

Growing up, Louise* had always wanted to become a farmer, just like her grandfather. That was until the creeping realisation that owning a farm is hard, if you don’t have any land to start off with.

Louise wasn’t in the line of succession. So, for a long time she parked her dreams and went on to become a solicitor. But, in her late 20s, the farm dream came back and she couldn’t shake it.

“It was probably when my husband and I started thinking about having kids. We were living in Geelong, but whenever I pictured children, it was always on a farm,’ she said.

“My husband, Richard, is also a lawyer and is originally from Melbourne, so there really wasn’t much farming skills between us.”

Despite this, the couple started working and volunteering on farms in their spare time and later bought 90 acres, one hour west of Geelong.

“So many people said to us, it can’t be done. They’d say, ‘what’s the point of running 25 cows on 90 acres? You won’t make enough profit’,” she said.

Six years later, the couple now runs hundreds of sheep and cattle on more than 600 acres.

Louise admits it wasn’t easy. Financially, she and her husband both had to continue working their regular jobs, while running up to the farm on weekends and hiring help.

During that time, Louise and Richard also started a family.

“It was an incredible juggle. And if I’m honest, there were days I felt driven and then days I felt so stressed out” Louise said.

“Chasing my dream was putting a lot of pressure on my family and at one point I nearly sold our land and gave up altogether.”

The workload of starting out and running a farm can be high, but there are ways of planning and managing the work that can reduce work-related stress. Louise’s turning point came, when she applied for and was awarded a Young Farmers Scholarship, which gave her a framework for running the business, improved her grazing management and connected her to the broader farming community.

“There are just so many things you don’t know, when you start farming from scratch. I would definitely encourage anyone considering entering farming to explore the opportunities that are out there for training. You don’t have to do a degree—there are lots of short courses and hands-on learning opportunities.”

“But on the mental health side, the scholarship program also put the business into perspective. I learnt how to better manage and operate the farm. This in turn gave me more of a sense of control in how to design and manage the farm work and farming as a way of life, which reduced my work-related stress.” Louise said.

“We had been so fixated on the bottom line and proving everyone wrong, we almost forgot about why we got into farming in the first place. It enabled me to prioritise time for family and for myself.”

The tree-change movement has taken off in the past decade and even more so recently, under Covid-19.

Melissa Connors created This Farm Needs A Farmer, to connect aspiring farmers with farmer mentors. She says the early years can be incredibly stressful and that she often receives phone calls from distressed newcomers, saying “What have I done?”

“These words immediately transport me back to when we first moved onto our rural property, 8 years ago when we knew nothing, knew no one and the only tools we owned were a set of screw drivers and a hammer,” Melissa said. Melissa says people move from the city with an idyllic picture of rural life, not realising all the infrastructure they’ll need to put in (such as sewage, drains, bores etc.)

This is not to discourage people from chasing their farming dreams, but to be more realistic about how long it can take to create a liveable home and a profitable farm. Connecting with mentors and training opportunities can help to manage expectations regarding workload and other aspects of farming and fishing life – proper preparation and early decision making can reduce future stress, be it financial or personal, and maintain a healthy primary production workplace for both those in charge and those employed.

Sam Marwood of Cultivate Farms, told the Beyond the Farmgate podcast  that aspiring farmers are increasingly using vendor finance.

“No one is born being a doctor, or a lawyer or an accountant, they figure it out and they go train and they get there,” Sam said.

And that’s what we want to say to the next generation, is if you’ve got this desire to produce things, farming is an option and ownership is absolutely an option,” he said.  “It’s just going to be hard work and you will have to be a bit creative to get there.”

For Louise, she now realises that the hard work she put in early on, should never have come at the cost of her mental health. Louise has come to see just how important it is to prevent risks to mental health from the start. She’s also learnt how valuable good staff can be in supporting her goal of running a successful business, and she makes a big effort to ensure that workers are treated well, feel valued and have a say in how the farm is run – all factors that can help to retain staff and create a mentally healthy workplace for workers too. After all, they often have a lot more knowledge and experience than Louise.

Workplaces impact mental health but there are ways to design and manage work to reduce the risk of work-related stress and create mentally healthy workplaces. Looking at Worksafe Victoria’s guide on managing work-related stress, Louise had set unreasonably high work demands for herself and before having a business plan, she had low levels of control over her work.

These days, Louise is still working towards her dream of building up her own farm, but values her mental health and well-being just as highly.

“Just as we want a sustainable farm, we need a sustainable way of working,” she said.

What farmers want from mental health and wellbeing-focused websites and online interventions

Abstract

Introduction

Farming is a physically and psychologically hazardous occupation and farmers face numerous attitudinal and structural barriers to accessing mainstream health and mental health services. As Internet access increases across rural Australia there is potential for online interventions to help overcome barriers and provide new avenues for improving farmers’ mental health and wellbeing. However, little is known about how farmers perceive this approach which is problematic given the importance of building in their preferences, to ensure these interventions meet their interests and needs, and have maximum impact. The purpose of this study was to explore the scope of Australian farmers’ current Internet use and their views and preferences on the design and delivery of online, mental health and wellbeing-focused interventions.

Methods

Eighteen farmers (11 men and 7 women, with a median age of 45.5 years) from grain, sheep and/or cattle farms across four states of Australia participated. Telephone-based, semi-structured interviews were used to explore their current Internet use practices and preferences regarding new websites to promote farmers’ mental health and wellbeing. Thematic Framework Analysis was used to analyze and organize the data.

Results

Eight key topics were discussed and several themes within each topic emerged. The first topic related to farmers’ current Internet use practices (found to be sporadic, used for weather, banking, emails and research, they are open to using it for health and wellbeing, and they reported that Twitter and other social media reduces social isolation). Themes demonstrating farmers’ specific preferences on four aspects of web-design included; preferred aesthetics (authenticity, reflective of farmer diversity, simple layout and font, colours of nature, mix of cartoons and real-life, positive, masculine imagery); preferred language (lay, casual tone, careful use of humour, positive/empowering); preferred technical aspects/capabilities (unreliable Internet connections, limited downloads, compatibility with multiple devices, easy to use, inclusion of music problematic, mixed opinion about inclusion of scientific references and chat features, include videos, case studies) and preferred content/focus for websites of this type (early intervention/prevention, where and how to seek more help). More broadly, contextual influences to consider (multiple pressures of farm life, time poverty, farmers’ outlook is practical and outcome-driven, stigma about mental health decreasing but still exists); strategies to promote engagement (must feel engaged, know what is next, see benefits quickly) and marketing/promotion suggestions (women as advocates for men, use trusted sources to promote, emphasize that information can be accessed from privacy of own home/farm) were also highlighted by participants.

Conclusions

Findings will help inform the development of new mental health and wellbeing-focused online interventions for farmers to maximize uptake, engagement and impact. In particular, these interventions need to be perceived as relevant and authentic, while also reflecting the diversity of the farming population, which farmers believe can be achieved by carefully considering their preferences for aesthetics, language, technological requirements and the unique farming context.

Farmer Health eNews July 2021

Find out the latest from the National Centre for Farmer Health

• Do you use quadbikes for spraying on your farm? Complete our survey assessing the safety of spraying practices on QuadBikes on farms.
• New publication on child farm-related injuries now available!
• Campfire is now live! Join the conversation every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening.
• Wellness Wednesday

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Episode 2: Strengthening Your Support Team – AgriSafe

Your health, wellbeing and safety are your primary production business’ number #1 asset. In this episode, AgriSafe clinician Morna Semmens joins Wimmera cropping farmer Tom Dunstan to discuss how the AgriSafe program can help to prevent work-related risks to mental health for primary producers.

Now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and here.

This podcast is part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network led by the National Centre for Farmer Health to promote mentally healthy workplaces. Campfire, part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network, was funded by the Victorian State Government’s WorkSafe WorkWell Mental Health Improvement Fund.

Are you too busy to look after yourself… or even retire?

This topic will be discussed as part of our online bonfire on June 23rd, “Strengthening Your Support Team: AgriSafe.”

At 61, Jenny* is ready to retire from dairying.

Her husband, Bill, says he is too, but there’s still no plan as to how or when they’ll leave their Gippsland farm.

Jenny met Bill just after finishing high school at a local dance. She grew up on a dairy farm herself, and trained to be a nurse, swearing she would never marry a farmer, especially a dairy farmer.

“I knew all about the hours involved, I watched how hard my father and mother worked …but I guess love got in the way, and I married a dairy farmer.

So, she moved to Bill’s family’s farm near Heyfield, she kept nursing part-time while also raising her three sons and helping out on the farm. In that time they turned a 200-cow dairy into a 600-cow operation.

She doesn’t regret her decision at all, she loves the cows and the countryside. But, when she thinks back to her own parents, she realises they never got the chance to retire together. Her Dad was always too busy to attend doctors’ appointments and died from a preventable heart condition at the age of 59.

She doesn’t want the same thing to happen to her and Bill.

They have a 22 year old son interested in taking on the business, but Bill is worried that it’s too soon to make such a commitment. Bill’s also still so busy with the farm; milking and managing his two employees, that he feels like he barely has time to think about the future or his own health.

“If I’m honest, we could do with another full time person. The staff are stressed as it is, trying to get the cows through the rotary twice a day, as well as looking after the calves and all the farm up-keep,” Jenny said.

It has been hard to find skilled farm employees and Covid-19 has only exacerbated the problem. Jenny says one of their recent recruits is very “green” and can be un-motivated, which is causing friction within the team.

Jenny’s worried this stress is impacting safety.

“Earlier this year, Bill put his back out after slipping over in the mud, while rushing to shut a gate. He had to take nearly two months off work.”

Jenny knows Bill’s mounting stress contributed to his fall. She also knows that the resulting injury made Bill’s stress levels (and the stress levels of their workers) increase even further. She knows that change needs to happen.

Morna Semmens is an AgriSafe clinician with the National Centre for Farmer Health and says farms can be dangerous places.

“We know that farmers and ag workers are exposed to a wide range of dangers. We also know a healthy farm business relies on a healthy farmer—physically and mentally.”

Agriculture, fishing and forestry continues to be the highest risk occupational group with around 10 times the rate of fatality compared with the rest of the working population.

But Morna Semmens says it’s not just the risk of fatal injury that farmers need to think about, it’s the full range of preventable risks to mental and physical health, many of which are often neglected and can have a cumulative impact. This includes risks ranging from exposure to agrichemicals (which can be prevented by changed farming practices and improved use of personal protective equipment), through to poor workplace relationships (which can be prevented by improved workplace communications and problem solving strategies, shared decision making and clear assigning of tasks).

“Most farmers have an agriculture advice and support team  – vets, agronomists, seed specialists, mechanics to help support them and manage risk, she told the Mallee Sustainable Farming podcast.

“So I feel it’s an opportunity missed to not have an identified health and mental wellbeing team behind you as well – so that might be a dentist, GP, physio, counsellor etc.”

Worksafe Victoria’s guide has identified how time pressure, poor support and poor workplace relationships can ultimately impact the mental health and safety of farmers.

But Morna says there’s a great opportunity for farmers to make changes and lead by example.

“Be brave enough to be a positive role model,” she said,

“Encourage your family, your employees, your community and other industry leaders to change how they think about mental and physical health and safety…. because if it’s a whole community doing those things, then bigger changes happen. If we can continue to make small changes to prevent these risks, our workplaces (and homes for many farming families) will be healthier, happier and more productive.”

Child Farm-Related Injury in Australia: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Children on farms have been identified as a population vulnerable to injury. This review seeks to identify child farm-related injury rates in Australia and to determine the key hazards and contributing risk factors. This critical review utilised the PRISMA guidelines for database searching. Research from the year 2000 onward was included as well as earlier seminal texts. Reference lists were searched, and the relevant research material was explored. Our primary focus was on Australian peer-reviewed literature with international and grey literature examples included. Evidence suggests that there is limited Australian research focusing on child farm-related injuries. Child representation in farm-related injuries in Australia has remained consistent over time, and the key hazards causing these injuries have remained the same for over 20 years. The factors contributing to child rates of farm injury described in the literature include child development and exposure to dangerous environments, the risk-taking culture, multi-generational farming families, lack of supervision, child labour and lack of regulation, limited targeted farm safety programs, underuse of safe play areas, financial priorities and poor understanding and operationalisation of the hierarchy of control. It is well known that children experience injury on farms, and the key hazards that cause this have been clearly identified. However, the level of exposure to hazards and the typical attitudes, behaviours and actions of children and their parents around the farm that contribute to child injury remain unexplored.

Farming and fishing ‘safety’ is not a set of rules, it’s a life-saving culture

This topic will be discussed as part of our online bonfire on June 9th, “Strengthening Your Support Team: Farming and Fishing Safety Consultants.”

As a fisherman, whenever Matthew* heard about the death of a fellow fisher– he always put it down to bad luck. Tragic and awfully sad; but simply part of the toll involved in a lifestyle devoted to worshipping the sea. It could happen to anyone.

And then one day, the sea decided it was his turn.

Matt, 45, and his friend Trevor, 60, were pulling cray pots off Victoria’s south-west coast last year. The waters were choppy – but that’s hardly unusual for Port Fairy. Matt remembers how the pair were rushing, they knew stronger weather was coming, but it was a good catch and there was pressure from their boss to get it all in. Just as they were pulling the final cray pots into the boat, the swell picked up, overturning the vessel and plunging the men into the sea.

Trevor, an experienced fisherman, was fitter than most men half his age. But he struggled in the rough seas and went under. Matt was thrown so far away, he couldn’t even attempt to save his friend. All Matt could do, was reach the cap-sized boat and hold on … for the three hours it took until the rescue helicopter arrived.

“I lost a good mate that day. A wife lost her husband and his teenage kids lost their Dad,” Matt said.

Matt and Trevor weren’t wearing life jackets.

“It’s a job we’ve done hundreds of times before,” Matt said.

“And if we had life jackets on, Trev would have had a chance.”

Matt’s attitude to the sea, has completely changed now. His friend died in an avoidable accident. It wasn’t bad luck.

Five people are killed on fishing boats every year, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Recent reports suggests fishing is 25 times more dangerous to work in than mining or construction.

Matt says we need to get the safety message out to fishers and farmers too, to save lives.

“Fishers.. and farmers, we all love our jobs. It can be busy and high pressure at times– but it’s never worth dying for,” he said.

SeSafe, is a safety training initiative that formed in 2018 with the slogan “What if you don’t go home?”

The project’s principal investigator Steve Earys says a cultural change is needed.

“Unfortunately, in this industry there is widespread acceptance of the hazards and risks of working at sea.”

He said that’s particularly the case for those who have been doing the job for many years.

Safety consultant, Paul Livingston likens safety culture to an “iceberg.”

“…where the smaller top portion is visible and tangible and the driving portion remains unsighted.”

What he means, is that workplaces will focus on collecting the incident data and KPIs, but underpinning this safety culture, are the beliefs and assumptions of individuals, their relationships and the communication around safety.

A Worksafe report has also highlighted how a lack of safety is a major contributor to poor mental wellbeing;  adding to the psychosocial hazards fishers and farmers experience. And when these factors combine – such as a dangerous work environment, poor external support, high job demands and low job control – it puts significant stress on an individual.

There are multiple layers to encouraging safety at work, from enlisting the help of safety consultants, increasing staff training, better safety equipment and changing management practices. But it’s embedding this within a culture of safety on the farm or at sea, that will ultimately make the safety message stick.

Farmer Health eNews June 2021

Find out the latest from the National Centre for Farmer Health

• Healthy and Sustainable Agricultural Communities (HMF702) Scholarship Applications are EXTENDED: Don’t miss out!
• The innovative and exciting new web-based platform ‘Campfire’ is NOW LIVE! 
• Would your secondary school like to host a Gear Up for Ag Health & Safety™ Program?
• Wellness Wednesday

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