‘I felt like a failure’: Ex-farmer warns of crisis worse than drought

The region recorded a staggering 71 per cent below-average rainfall — marking the driest May since 2005.

While concerns mount for Australian agriculture, a critical yet often overlooked issue is the mental toll on farmers.

A study done by Australian National University published in 2014 found there was a correlation between severe agricultural impact and mental health decline for regional and rural residents.

It was based on a 2007 survey of 8000 people living in rural and regional areas during a time when Australia was experiencing the millennium drought.

The report found that farmers who reported the drought had either “eliminated or reduced their farm’s productivity to the lowest point ever” had “significantly higher rates of mental health problems”.

Ex-dairy farmer Warren Davies experienced the mental stress and toll that the millennium drought brought first-hand — its effects pushing him to have to sell his Tongala farm.

When he was on the farm, he had three things he needed to take care of: his farm, his cows and his family.

When the sixth year of the drought came around, he began to find himself unable to do those things.

“I stopped being able to do stuff on my farm that I wanted to do … weren’t able to look after my cows, and then obviously the ramification of that was not being able to look after my family,” Mr Davies said.

“I felt like a failure, and that spiral led me to hitting rock bottom.

“One of the things that I now realise is that through all my business plans and my recovery plans, I never had anything built into those plans about the number one asset on my farm — and that was me.”

Mr Davies struggled with his identity when he lost his farm — who was he if he wasn’t farmer Warren?

“I unclipped my identity and I hooked it on the front gate of my farm and left it there,” he said.

“It took me a long time to work out who I was again.”

After a few years of working and managing farms across Australia, he took up a speaking course where he found his next identity: The Unbreakable Farmer.

He began speaking to farmers; about life on the farm, the loneliness and the mental health strains that can come with the agricultural industry.

“The more I shared about my mental health journey, the more it started to resonate with people, and the more people who wanted to hear my story,” he said.

Mr Davies said starting a conversation and checking in with your mates could make all the difference in someone’s mental health — especially with farmers.

And more than ever, he is noticing the need for support for local farmers.

“I found in the last 20 days — things have gotten critical,” he said.

“I think people were hanging out for that rain, and it didn’t come — or if they did get it, it wasn’t enough.

“People are reaching out for help, which is different to the millennium drought … but the silence is also deafening in the communities that I work in where the people who are doing it the toughest are probably the quietest — that’s the worrying point.”

June is Men’s Mental Health Month, and Mr Davies urges men to support each other through three simple yet powerful actions: reaching out, checking in and openly communicating.

“Silence is deafening in some communities right now … things are tough, so it’s easier to stay at home and not talk and discuss what’s going on — but I think people need to come together.”

If you’re doing it tough, reach out. These support services are here to help: