Farmers: Mental Health Services

(asked on 17th January 2024) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to help support the mental health of farmers during the transition from the Basic Payment Scheme to the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.


Answered by
Mark Spencer Portrait
Mark Spencer
Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 29th January 2024

The Government is introducing ambitious new schemes for farmers and land managers in England, which will help their businesses become more productive and sustainable by rewarding them for farming in a way that will deliver environmental and animal welfare outcomes. We are also reforming the way we regulate, with greater emphasis on advice and improvement, so farmers and regulators work together to improve the countryside.

We are providing support during the early years of the transition via the Future Farming Resilience Fund. One of the key required outcomes for the Resilience Fund is that farmers’ mental health and wellbeing are supported. Some delivery providers are offering this support from in-house experts and others are signposting support available from external expert services. We have worked with the Yellow Wellies charity, to provide advice and information on how to identify potential mental health issues and provide tools for addressing them.

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