Farmstrong Scotland ‘Live well to farm well’

Farmstrong Scotland is a wellbeing programme for all Scottish farmers and crofters of any age, any gender and any location.

Farmstrong Scotland has adopted practices from Farmstrong New Zealand which has been running for about 8 years and promises to help farmers ‘live well to farm well’. This programme focuses on the concept that both physical and mental health are crucial to ensuring the running of a successful business and if we don’t take time to focus on our wellness we will need to take time to focus on our illness.

Mark Gascoigne is a dairy farmer from New Zealand milking 480 cows and a FarmStrong ambassador and mental health campaigner. Mark has been travelling across Scotland to talk about his experience of depression and his subsequent focus on wellbeing.

He is trying to normalise mental health struggles to reduce the stigma around it, especially being such a common issue in agriculture. Throughout January and February Mark travelled Scotland on Farmstrong tours to share his story and encourage farmers to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. This tour is just the start of an extended campaign that the newly formed Farmstrong Scotland team has in mind for the Scottish agricultural industry. This campaign will help people discover ways to improve their mindset, stay farm fit by eating and sleeping well, and develop relationships with others. Farmstrong outlines 5 ways to wellness;

1 Connect developing new friendships and spending time with friends. Prioritising time away from work.

2 Giving your time to others, be that through supporting those having a tough time or spending quality time with family.

3 Take notice. Take time to pause and think about what you appreciate. Find the simple things that make you happy and pay attention to them, if only for a few moments.

4 Keep learning be curious on and off the farm. Learning new things is good for your brain, will keep your mind active and help you farm smarter.

5 Be active working up a sweat releases endorphins that make you feel alert and better able to cope with challenges. Make physical activity a habit, aim for at least 30 minutes of movement a day.

The hope is by providing farmers with these simple strategies they might try and implement them to improve their own situation. This campaign is running in conjunction with RSABI a charity that offers support to farmers on both wellness and financial issues. RSABI offers a free counselling service and emphasises that the quicker people reach out for help the easier it can be to prevent the problem developing.