The Farmers’ Union of Wales is taking part in one of the biggest walking challenges yet, as it joins five nations who have teamed up to inspire rural communities to take to the countryside to help improve their mental health.

The challenge, #Run1000, is calling on people to sign up to be part of one of five teams – England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the rest of the world. The competition will take place from January 1 to January 31, 2021 and will see each team run or walk 1,000 miles, with the nation that reaches the milestone first announced as the winner. The idea is for individuals to sign up and contribute as many miles as they can during January, whether that be 1 or 100. 

A team captain will lead each nation, and a private Strava group will record the collective running / walking distance - for Wales the team captain is Emma Picton-Jones from the DPJ Foundation.

Over 40 people have been killed on farms in the UK this year according to fatality notifications from the HSE, including nine in Wales since January 2020. The numbers bring home the harrowing reality just how dangerous farming can be and the Farmers’ Union of Wales is calling on the industry to make a change and start taking safety on farms seriously.

FUW Deputy President Ian Rickman said: “We need to let that statistic sink in. Over 40 people have died on farms across the UK in 2020. That’s over 40 families who have lost a loved one and who are going through trauma, stress and are no doubt experiencing anxiety as well. The figure is exceptionally higher than last year and we must make changes on our farms to drastically reduce the number of fatalities.”

The FUW, as part of the Wales Farm Safety Partnership, is committed to highlighting that there are serious Health and Safety challenges on farms and through its work with the group aims to help improve the situation and to save lives on farms.

All organisations in Wales who are signed up to the ‘On Farm Health and Safety Charter for Wales' are committed to: “Working together to make farming safer”.

It has long been recognised in farming circles that a bovine TB breakdown has multiple consequences, such as loss of stock, problems with cash flow, costs of housing and feeding additional stock, loss of business control and uncertainty over the future. All of these inevitably impact on the emotional well-being of farming families. 

However, the true impact is likely to have been underestimated. Rebecca John, a third generation farmer from Pembrokeshire, is therefore asking a pertinent question - how does a TB breakdown on a farm affect our mental health? 

Familiar with the ups and downs of agriculture and livestock farming in Pembrokeshire, Rebecca is no stranger to seeing vets come and go for TB testing on the family holding Rinaston, near Haverfordwest, where they farm beef, sheep and dairy.

“We all understand to a degree that farmers who are trying to run their business under a bovine TB breakdown are at breaking point. Given that mental health is inextricably linked to farm business sustainability and solvency, we must fully understand the ground-level grass roots consequences of this disease. 

The FUW has reacted to the release of the Welsh Government’s Agriculture (Wales) White Paper saying the paper does little to reduce concerns regarding the impacts for families and communities of proposed sweeping changes to agricultural support.

Responding to the publication of the white paper on Wednesday (December 16), FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “We all agree with the objectives of protecting and enhancing the economic, environmental and sustainability of our rural communities, which are alluded to in this white paper. 

“However, we have grave concerns about whether the nuts and bolts of the proposals will actually do this, and feel there is a great risk that the aspirations outlined in the paper will actually be undermined, particularly from the point of view of family farms and rural economics.”