2017-03-10: Farmers welcome health program – The Border Watch

2017-02-28: Beyond Silence – The Hamilton Spectator

Farmer Health eNews March 2017

Find out all the latest from the National Centre for Farmer Health

• Looking forward to seeing you back at Wimmera Machinery Field Days 7-9th March 2017 Site D27-28
• Don’t dawdle…have your say about rural suicide!
• Nuffield Scholar visits NCFH
• Wellness Wednesday Topics

View the March 2017 e-News

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2017-02-21: Farm safety is goal of Nuffield Scholar Jim Chapman who lost arm in tractor accident – ABC Rural

In 2005 British farmer Jim Chapman lost his left arm after he got too close to an unguarded tractor shaft.  

“It was like [in] a matter of seconds, it grabbed hold of my jumper, wound me in and I went over the top of the shaft and landed on the floor without my left arm,” he said.

Mr Chapman is visiting Australia from the United Kingdom as part of the Nuffield Farming Scholarship he was awarded last year.

His goal is to explore methods of reversing what he calls the “appalling safety record in agriculture”.

Life after farming accident

For 12 months Mr Chapman struggled to deal with the aftermath of the accident that left him without his arm.

Eventually, his friends dragged him out of the house and he became involved in a young farmer’s organisation and was later asked to be part of a farm safety campaign.

“They wanted a disabled farmer who didn’t mind telling their story about having an accident on the farm and how it affects your life,” he said.

Mr Chapman now goes around telling his story to other farmers in the hope he can change attitudes to farm safety.

“My aim really is to make safety sexy once again,” he said.

“I say that for a bit of a laugh and it gets people in a bit of a smile but really it’s about changing that attitude.”

Taking a look at Australian farms

Mr Chapman stopped by Jigsaw Farms near Hamilton, in south-west Victoria where he was impressed by owner Mark Wootton’s approach to safety.

“The guy’s a fantastic farmer,” he said.

Read more: 2017-02-21: Farm safety is goal of Nuffield Scholar Jim Chapman who lost arm in tractor accident – ABC Rural

2017-02-09: Suicide is real, it’s time to talk – Hamilton Spectator

By Tara Fry

2017-02-07: Sungold Field Days renews itself again – The Standard

by Everard Himmelreich

Sungold Field Days chairman Tony Rea doesn’t like to highlight new things at the event too much because “every exhibitor has something new.”

“That is the wonderful thing farmers like about the field days,” Mr Rea said.

“They can see so much equipment in the one spot at the one time,” he said.

Mr Rea said the 11.5 hectare site was fully booked with all 260 exhibitor sites taken.

“Some exhibitors wanted extra space but we haven’t been able to accommodate them,” he said.

Exhibitors have come from throughout Victoria, NSW, South Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Rea said good spring and summer rains and recovering milk prices had given dairy farmers more optimism than last year.

About 30 millimetres of rain fell on the Allansford site on Sunday afternoon to leave the site looking green.

Mr Rea has been involved with the event’s management for 36 years and as chairman for the past 31.

He has found it a great source of new technology and innovation, not just in equipment but also in techniques.

Among the innovations on show this year are new ryegrass varieties that grow longer in winter and stay green later into the summer.

Event coordinator Emma Kavanagh said the event catered to the whole community with lifestyle exhibits as well as those for dairy and other agricultural industries.

Entertainment this year includes demonstrations by whip cracking virtuoso Nathan Griggs, wood chopping, cooking demonstrations and performances by musicians Kayla Dwyer, Cooper Lane and Mitch Power.

A parade of vintage tractors and other vintage farm machinery at 11am each day will be led by a massive 1910 Chas Burrell steam traction engine.

The National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) will again be providing free health assessments, measuring body mass index, cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels. Eyesight testing and diabetes assessment will also be available.

View Article: 2017-02-07: Sungold Field Days renews itself again – The Standard

Farmer Health eNews February 2017

Find out all the latest from the National Centre for Farmer Health

• Sungold Field Days 8 – 10th February 2017 Site N36
• Spread the Ripple
• Keep in touch with NCFH – stay social!
• Wellness Wednesday Topics

View the February 2017 e-News

Sign up to receive eNews straight to your inbox! Click here

2017-01-30: Farmer suicide: Participants needed for The Ripple Effect survey – The Weekly Times

By: HANNAH DRISCOLL, The Weekly Times

The Ripple Effect online survey aims to investigate ways to reduce the stigma of suicide — particularly among 30- to 64-year-old males — in farming communities.

The survey, in which participants detail their own experiences, set a target of 473 male participants. But of the 370 respondents so far, only about 30 per cent were male.

National Centre for Farmer Health research fellow Alison Kennedy, who is conducting the survey was “a way for us to gather information about rural suicide and the experience of how people feel best supported and where perhaps that support isn’t forthcoming and how they would prefer that to be offered”.

Dr Kennedy wants to glean as much information as possible from the target age group.

“That’s not to say we don’t want anyone else to participate, but we certainly do need a good chunk of blokes,” she said.

Dr Kennedy agreed “without a doubt” the number of survey participants to date was indicative of the stigma of suicide — that “people are very much behind suicide prevention but when it comes to opening up about their own experiences they’re much less likely to do that”.

“That is the point of the project, to try to reduce the stigma associated with suicide,” she said.

Dr Kennedy said support for the initiative needed to translate into more active participation.

• Visit therippleeffect .com.au

2017-01-30: Live Rural to help with farmers’ study – The Ararat Advertiser

Applications have opened for the next round of Live Rural study scholarships following the 2016 Mellow in the Yellow fundraiser at Tatyoon.

The program will award two farmers up to $2000 to contribute to the productivity of the farming business they work in or own.

Mellow in the Yellow was hosted at Tatyoon and raised the cash for scholarships to be awarded in the Ararat district farming community.

It also raised $5000 for the National Centre for Farmer Health based in Hamilton.

The Ripple Effect Final Report

This report details the design and evaluation of The Ripple Effect—a technologically-innovative, digital
intervention to reduce the stigma associated with suicide for males aged 30-64 years in rural and remote
Australian communities. The findings presented are the product of 23 months of engagement with rural and
remote farming community members affected by suicide—those bereaved by suicide, those who have
contemplated or attempted suicide, those who have cared for someone who has attempted, and those who
have been touched by suicide in other ways. The Ripple Effect recognises that males in rural Australia, in
comparison to males in the urban population, experience higher rates of suicide. This is despite similar levels of
diagnosed mental health conditions in rural and urban areas. Contextual elements such as geographic isolation,
traditional gender and cultural expectations, and close-knit communities restrict open discussion about suicide
and reinforce the effects of stigma (A. J. Kennedy, 2015). This inclination to avoid emotional vulnerability can be
detrimental when combined with feelings of weakness, shame, guilt, selfishness and the sense of rejection often
associated with an experience of suicide. The self-stigma and perceived-stigma that manifests can lead to
obscured behaviour and aversion to help-seeking, which may have life-altering effects and, ultimately lead to
increased ongoing suicide risk.

2017-01-18: Seeds sown for new crop of agri-health professionals – Stock & Land

Australia’s only postgraduate agricultural health and medicine unit for professionals servicing farming communities is attracting participants from across Australia and overseas.

Designed to tackle the high morbidity and mortality rates in the agricultural industry, the internationally recognised course better equips health providers, rural professionals and our farming communities with the knowledge and skills they need to help turn things around.

The National Centre for Farmer Health’s (NCFH), Dr Susan Brumby said a healthy workforce was vital for a productive agricultural industry.

Through the work of the NCFH, we have learnt that farming families and their communities face poorer health outcomes than their urban counterparts.

Agricultural workers have higher rates of injuries including fatalities and suffer chronic diseases at high rates.”

“A growing number of agricultural and health professionals are required to address the health disparities and make a real difference to the lives of our agricultural and rural populations,” Dr Brumby said.

This was the case for 2015 scholarship recipient Louisa Ferrier, an agricultural project manager, Birchip Cropping Group, in northern Victoria.

“Studying with people from a range of backgrounds has strengthened my understanding of what makes a farmer tick,” she said.

“A healthy farmer will make better decisions. This course offers relevant information that I now apply to enhance my field of work.”

Dr Felix Ho, a medical intern and former paramedic in Darwin, agreed.

“You’re not just focussing on the medical conditions, but the range of factors that impact on these conditions in an agricultural context – the family, community and economic aspects,” he said.

International occupational physician, and the founder of the Netherlands Centre for Occupational Diseases, Professor Gert van der Laan, observed the 2016 course in action in Hamilton in Victoria.

“This is a well-organized multidisciplinary blended learning course in agricultural health and medicine,” he said.

“I would like to see courses like HMF701 Agricultural Health and Medicine worldwide to further develop occupational health.”

Limited places are available for an exciting five-day intensive Agricultural Health and Medicine unit (HMF701), offered through Deakin University and the National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) in Hamilton from February 27 to March 3.

Read more: 2017-01-18: Seeds sown for new crop of agri-health professionals – Stock & Land

2017-01-01: Rural prosperity: Delivering the milk of humane kindness – The Australian

by SUE NEALES Reporter – Rural/Regional Affairs

It often takes a crisis to catalyse major change. For Gippsland’s Sallie Jones and Steve Ronalds, it took three.

First, fifth-generation Jindivick dairy farmer Mr Ronalds had a serious motorbike accident late in 2015 that left him unable to milk his 450 Jersey cows for eight months. Then, in April, Ms Jones’s ­father, a long-time dairy farmer at Lakes Entrance, took his life. A few weeks later, the dairy industry was rocked when Victoria’s two biggest milk processors, Murray Goulburn and Fonterra, slashed the price they paid farmers for their milk, leaving many deeply in debt and struggling to survive.

It was then that a devastated Ms Jones and Mr Ronalds — whose families had known each other for years — decided to make their move. They have followed­ the path taken by many farmers keen to secure higher returns­ for premium products — think luxury Blackmores Wagyu beef or free-range Madelaine’s Eggs — by selling direct under their own farm labels.

In September, the business partners launched Gippsland Jersey, a new fresh milk brand using the creamy milk from their cows, which they contract-process and ­bottle and then deliver themselves to shops and farmers’ market­s. “My dad was always a believer that you couldn’t make money in dairying unless you were in control of it; he had been value-adding to our milk and selling it as Riviera ice-cream for years,” Ms Jones said.

“(Gippsland Jersey) was a bit of an honour project to him; it’s all about ensuring a fair price is paid to farmers for their milk as well as giving customers looking to help the industry a farmer-owned local brand to buy.”

Demand for the creamy Jersey milk is building steadily, with 13,000 litres of Gippsland Jersey branded milk sold weekly in 80 local cafes, stores and IGA shops across Gippsland and Melbourne. A major retail deal is on the cards.

“It feels liberating to have that bit of control over how you sell your milk but (it was) also petrifying to see your milk going off to be bottled when we didn’t have a clue whether (Gippsland Jersey) would sell. But we don’t want it to be just about a single farm: I want other Jersey farmers to be involved­ in supplying milk and to enjoy the benefits too — and they are queuing up to come on board.”

Ms Jones, who uses social media alone to promote the brand, is proud that details about the Ripple Effect program to beat rural suicide — run by the Nat­ional Centre for Farmer Health — are featured on the back of their milk labels. Two cents from the sale of each $4.50-$5 two-litre bottle is also put into a “random acts of kindness” pool for farmers, which the couple has used to send a stressed dairyman on a weekend beach holiday with his family, and provide extra Christmas presents.

Read more: 2017-01-01: Rural prosperity: Delivering the milk of humane kindness – The Australian