Farmerados: share the load with people who ‘get it’
Rupert Cox is the coordinator of Farmerados, a project and social movement funded by Open Mental Health that provides pop-up Farmhouse Kitchens offering comfort and chat to encourage good mental health.
If you head along to one of Somerset’s agricultural markets or events, you might well notice one of the enticing pop-up farmhouse kitchens. Here, you’ll find a friendly, welcoming space where you can enjoy a hot drink and a biscuit or three. Farmers can chat with like-minded people who’ve shared similar experiences and understand the challenges of farming life.
Working in the agricultural sector can be tough. 92% of UK farmers under the age of 40 say that poor mental health is the biggest problem facing their community. So, Farmerados aims to get farmers talking and to open up about their worries.
A study by the Farming Community Network and the University of Exeter shows that long hours and solitary working can cause loneliness in the farming community. While evidence submitted to parliament identified financial difficulties caused by changing incomes, complex paperwork, poor work-life balance, and community pressures can all add to a farmer’s burden.
Farmerados is aimed specifically at farmers and is run by volunteers who understand agricultural life. Many farmers struggle in silence, but Farmerados believe that a friendly conversation can help people realise they are not alone and that sharing a worrisome load can take some weight off.
The inspiration for Farmerados comes from the wider international Camerados movement, which believes that people and purpose are what gets us all through life, whatever type of tough time folk are having; by bringing people together and looking out for one another, Camerados enables people to feel more connected. You can find out more about the Camerados movement at camerados.org
To discover more about Farmerados, where to find drop-in sessions and pop-up kitchens, or how to volunteer, visit https://farmerados.org/ or find them on Facebook by searching for Farmerados.