Thematic Group on Supporting the Mental Health of Farmers and Farming Communities

• Raising awareness of mental health challenges in farming, highlighting their consequences on individuals and businesses, such as health conditions, substance abuse, domestic violence, and poor business performance.
• Identifying and sharing best practices at various levels, examining their success, replicability, and transferability, and explored strategies to improve access to mental health services and support.
• Fostering a stakeholder-driven platform to discuss barriers to mental health support, enhanced awareness among policymakers and the public, and recommended measures to be integrated into policies at local, regional, national, and EU levels. 

Activities

At the first meeting (27 February 2024, online), TG members discussed the root causes of mental health issues among farmers, sharing insights and initiatives from across the EU. Key themes included the importance of diverse perspectives, breaking taboos, and promoting inclusive support networks at both local and national levels. The meeting highlighted the need for sustained funding and holistic strategies to address mental health challenges in farming communities, with a focus on destigmatization and tailored support.

The second meeting (28 May 2024, Brussels) explored effective strategies for raising mental health awareness and for providing support within farming communities and discussed how successful approaches can be applied and replicated in other regions or Member States.

In addition, two informal discussions further enriched the group’s work and focused on women's roles in farming and tailored mental health support.

The TG activities helped TG members identify key ingredients to support the mental health of farmers and farming communities and develop key policy recommendations aimed at improving actions to mitigate and address farmers' mental health needs. Both documents are available at the bottom of this page.

The outcomes of the TG meetings are highlighted in the event reports available below.

Key findings

The TG members produced a set of 15 action-oriented recommendations for improving mental health support for farmers and farming communities, focusing on education, policy frameworks, support services, research, and institutional collaboration. 

The main points of the recommendations cover: 

• Enhance education and awareness by integrating mental health topics into agricultural education, training advisors, and raising awareness among policymakers, media, and farming communities.
• Strengthen community-led initiatives through strategic policy frameworks, networking, and support structures that encourage peer learning and local collaboration.
• Improve access to mental health services by ensuring trust-based, farmer-friendly support, targeting isolated farmers, and integrating mental health into agricultural advisory and healthcare services.
• Expand data collection and research to track farmers’ mental health trends, evaluate policy effectiveness, and secure evidence-based funding for targeted interventions.
• Ensure long-term institutional support by integrating mental health into CAP Strategic Plans, developing social insurance schemes, and fostering cross-sector collaboration at national and EU levels. 

Another outcome from the discussion held in this TG is the document Key Ingredients to Support the Mental Health of Farmers and Farming Communities, which outlines 12 actionable components that can guide the development of effective mental health support for farmers, categorised into awareness, farmer-level, community-level, and institutional-level actions. It also presents concrete initiatives from various EU Member States that illustrate these key elements in practice, covering topics such as peer support networks, training for advisors, national strategies, and integrating mental health into social protection systems.

The document Good initiatives and elements of replicability to support the mental health of farmers and farming communities presents a comprehensive overview of mental health challenges in EU farming communities and highlights four successful initiatives from Ireland, Finland, France and the EU level that support farmers' mental well-being. It showcases practical approaches, identifies replicable elements, and explores key policy questions for strengthening future mental health support in agriculture across Europe.

Finally, from the exchange between the participants, a list of articles, studies, and reports related to mental health in the agricultural sector was compiled. Topics covered range from EU policy discussions, farmers' psychosocial work environments, and the role of advisors in farmer well-being.

Scroll down this page to find all the outputs of this Thematic Group and relevant resources related to this topic.

Learn more

You can find other useful resources about this theme in our Publications section and in our Good Practice database.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us at implementation@eucapnetwork.eu.

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