Most farmers do not name unpredictable weather or financial pressures as their main causes of stress from the job, pointing instead to bureaucracy and inspections.
And while Europe’s leaders seem constantly to be thinking up new green regulations and seeking out cheap agricultural imports, they should instead pay more attention to the need for a greater consideration of farmer depression.
These are two of the findings from a new Swedish study on farmers’ mental health. Farmers told the paper’s authors at the Swedish Board of Agriculture that they felt most affected by regulations and bureaucracy (77% of respondents), inspections (59%), and high workload (57%). Very few pointed to issues surrounding poor internet connection (5%) or geographical isolation (7%).
Lead author Peter Lundqvist highlighted the stresses surrounding unannounced inspections, including in connection with EU subsidies, saying:
We have had cases where people have committed suicide after an inspection.
Reports show that such difficulties are by no means limited to Sweden, with every fourth Irish farmer suffering from burnout and a suicide among French farmers every other day.
Matters were apparently better in Sweden when farmers had access to a scheme called Agricultural Health, offering occupational health care with annual health check-ups and expert work environment advice. This, however, was discontinued after Sweden’s EU accession.
The paper stressed there should be more research on the national and EU level into “the psychosocial work environment and its impact on farmers’ mental health.” But almost a month after its publication, the document appears to have received only limited national—nevermind continental—coverage.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
