Farmers' mental health is 'going to worsen' because of the Sustainable Farming Scheme

A young farmer from Tregaron has raised concerns over the state of farmers' mental health as a result of the Welsh Government's plans for the industry.

Among them, is the Sustainable Farming Scheme, which is has given rise to protests all over the country.

The consultation on the scheme ends on 7 March.

According to 20-year-old Mali Davies, who lost her father to suicide four years ago, the changes could be detrimental to the sector.

"I don't want more farmers to be lost because of mental health. No other family needs to go through what we went through."

Speaking to the Y Byd ar Bedwar programme, she said that "mental health is a huge problem at the moment. I'm afraid the problem is going to get worse if we go into this plan."

Over the past few weeks, thousands of farmers have protested across Wales, with 3,000 voicing their opinion outside the Senedd last week.

Currently, the plan expects farmers to plant trees on 10% of their land and set aside another 10% for nature purposes. There is also no detail on exactly how or how much farmers will be paid for joining the scheme.

'Keep farming for Dad's sake'

"I never thought he would do it, I was coming back from school, and then came to find him, it was a nightmare."

It's something that worries me, doing things on the farm, and remembering that we always did it with him, so doing it now by myself, it's a little painful, but I want to keep going for him."

According to the agricultural mental health charity, The DPJ Foundation, this February they saw a 72% increase in the number of people who were referred to their counselling service compared to February the year before.

Commenting on the impact of the Plan on farmers' mental health, Mali says: "I don’t want more farmers to be lost due to mental health. No other family needs to go through what we went through."

'Change is inevitable'

In an interview on Y Byd ar Bedwar, Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths said: "My heart goes out to Mali. We are making sure that our mental health charities are there to support our farmers and the rural communities"

Speaking about the changes to farmers' lives as a result of the Scheme, Lesley Griffiths said: "Unfortunately change is inevitable for many many people, not only in the agricultural industry, but for many other parts of the economy.”

Responding to a question on whether the Welsh Government will change the terms on land use, and if there will be more information about the payment system: "I don't want to speak before the consultation is finished. It is extremely important that we wait to hear what people's reaction is.

I know it's extremely frustrating for farmers that they don't know about the payments, but unfortunately this is the nature of how the scheme is designed with the budget cycle, we don't know what our funding is.”

Y Byd ar Bedwar: Monday night at 20:00 on S4C, S4C/Clic and BBC iPlayer. (English subtitles available.) 

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