Farmers4Safety Managing Risk Together EIP AGRI Pilot project adopted a ‘peer-to-peer’ mentoring and champion approach to engage farmers in an attitudinal and behavioural change towards farm safety by tackling and improving the social norms around farm safety and emotional wellbeing

George  experienced a  number of life issues  that accumulated and built up to a high level of stress  anxiety and  depression culminating in mental  and physical strain. The biggest factor impacting on his situation as expressed by George  situation was  not having the ability to say ‘no’  to anything to be done and asked of him as he felt uncomfortable about saying no in case he would let someone down.

This case study shows the importance of training in the technical and management  areas  necessary for successful farming. The more prepared farmers are , the more tools  that are made available  the greater the opportunities to prevent situations of uncertainty, which should result in fewer situations that are difficult to manage from an emotional or mental health point of view.

Diana is a young farmer from Tuscany who has been running her family's winery since 2008. Since she took over the farm, she began to experience anxiety due to the high levels of responsibility she was under, and a loneliness generated by leaving her friendships to move to the countryside. After several years of experiencing these feelings, in 2018 it all spiraled into depression as her children (twins) joined her life and, with them, more pressure and anxiety. It was at this point that she decided to seek professional help and, today, she is able to manage these problems more rationally.