A local farmer has spoken about his own personal experiences to help highlight the Farm Safety Foundation "Mind Your Head" campaign.

The FSF - or Yellow Wellies as it is commonly known - wants to illustrate actions being taken to break down mental health barriers in farming.

James Hosking, better known by his friends as ‘Pasty’, started working on his family’s dairy farm, Higher Leah Farm in St Buryan, Land’s End, from the age of 12. Following family bereavements, the farm started to struggle.

James said: “I had to deal with a shock bereavement at the age of 15, when my uncle Sandy died suddenly of aortic aneurysm in his mid-30s, three months after his first and only child was born. This was the first time I had to deal with loss and grief. I dealt with it by working almost constantly – this was my distraction. After all, life for the cows carried on as normal, they always needed milking. Farming never stops for anything. Less than 12 months after, my grandma, who was a huge driving force for the farm, died of cancer. I could sense the farm starting to struggle after this time. My reason to live started to crumble around me.”

After his uncle’s widow, Fleur, sustained life-changing head injuries following a fall, James started skipping college so he and his father could rotate their working days to ensure they could visit her at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

He said: “My father and I rotated days working on the farm with travelling to Oxford to visit her. I had to skip college regularly and worked long labouring days on the farm.”

With the dairy industry in decline, money was tight and without enough profit, James’ family had to downscale and sell their dairy production to ensure stability.

“The farm, which had already started struggling was becoming more of a problem as family life pressures were mounting whilst the dairy industry was in decline,” he explained. “Money was tight and we were not making enough profit to get us out of the rut we found ourselves in. We didn’t want to lose our home, so we had to make the extremely tough decision to downscale and sell up our dairy production. This was the only way we could ensure stability for our grieving family.”

Silent

On April 7, 2011, the last dairy cow left the farm. This had a great impact on James: “The next day I was up and about fairly early. I went outside and that’s when everything hit me. Everything was empty and silent. No cows mooing, no mixer wagon turning, no milking parlour in action – the sounds that once comforted me were gone.”

As college came to a close, James threw himself into employment as a distraction and got a job as a restaurant manager. He started spending time socialising with the Young Farmers Club but felt he was being avoided and judged for being a ‘failed dairy farmer’ — this took its toll on his mental health. He said: “Even with friends and family standing by my side, my mood became so low I even contemplated taking my own life.

“I thought moving further away from home would help, so I took a job in Aylesbury, but I soon realised trying to run away from my feelings and associations with depression didn’t work, and I took them everywhere I went. I returned home to my family.”

The marked turning point for James was when he became involved with the #AgriChat discussion on Twitter. He realised he wasn’t alone and received a great deal of support.

He said: “I took part in an “#AgriChat” Twitter discussion on mental health where I shared my true feelings for the first time. This is when I realised I wasn’t alone. I had messages of support from all over the world. This marked a turning point.

“Days went by and in 2013 my Auntie Fleur lost her battle with brain damage and passed away. I learned that bottling up my feelings would only feed my inner ‘demons’, so I talked. I started engaging in more mental health discussions and even publicly shared my story. I was truly overwhelmed with love and support and also had other people reach out to me for help themselves. My goal of getting just one person to open up and seek support filled me with drive, as I personally knew how much of a big step this was to make.”

James moved back into dairy farming and although it wasn’t the same milking someone else’s cows he said it gave him a ‘glimmer of hope’.

In September 2019 James was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He had to make yet another difficult decision and moved away from farming once again. However, he put his physical health first and although sacrifices had to be made he has been able to focus on the positives and has given his support to the Mind Your Head campaign to enable others to find the light at the end of the tunnel.

Married

He said: “Now I’m still here. I’m 28 years old, working as a dairy sales specialist for B H White and Son. I love my job and I have a wonderful life with my fiancée here in Launceston. We are due to get married next year.

“It has been a rough road until now, having to make sacrifices for both my physical and emotional wellbeing, but being able to talk about mental health has kept me away from the dark patches and I can focus on the positive parts of life.”

A recent study by the Farm Safety Foundation, found that mental health issues among farmers and agricultural workers are of growing concern and having a direct impact of safety on farms, with 88% of farmers under the age of 40 now ranking poor mental health as the biggest hidden problem facing farmers today.

In an industry where 20 farm workers lost their lives in fatal farm accidents in 2019/2020, there were a total of 133 suicides registered in England, Wales and Scotland in those working in farming and agricultural related trades, according to the Office of National Statistics and the National Records of Scotland.

In the study, it was also revealed that 89% of young farmers believe that talking about mental health in farming will remove any stigma attached to it.

Stephanie Berkeley, manager of the Farm Safety Foundation said: “Humans are social animals. We not only enjoy each other’s company, but we also thrive on it. Digital solutions have tremendous value, however we must not underestimate the value of talking through our problems. It sounds non-technical, and therefore old-fashioned, but getting farmers to open up is the very first step to building a holistic approach to mental health in the industry.

“It is so important to encourage a habit within agriculture that explicitly recognises how the job can, and does, impact on the wellbeing of everyone living and working in it and how poor mental health can have a direct and deadly impact on the job.

“The Mind Your Head campaign will focus on prevention and early identification of risk factors associated with those living and working in the UK farming industry and also aims to highlight the wealth of support available. The Farm Safety Foundation will be sharing the stories of some incredible people who have lost loved ones to suicide, made difficult career and life choices, and hear stories of hope, resilience, and the light at the end of that dark tunnel.”

Stephanie added: “This is a huge concern and one that we need to keep talking about.”

For more information on the campaign or to learn more about how the Farm Safety Foundation and partners are tackling the issue of poor mental health in the industry visit http://www.yellowwellies.org"; TARGET="_blank">www.yellowwellies.org