1. There has been recent concern regarding both the decline in farm incomes and the mental health of farmers due to the high number of recorded suicides. But to date few studies have sought to examine the relationship these variables in a formal and quantitative manner.
2. This study sought to do just this, and the key questions addressed by this work were:
a) Does the mental health of farmers and their spouses/partners differ from the
general population?
b) Is farmer physical and mental health related to farm income?
c) Is the adoption of agri-environment schemes related to farmers' mental health?
3. Data was collected via two surveys conducted over three years, 2002 to 2004, in Wales, UK. Survey 1 utilised the existing Farm Business Survey to deliver health questionnaires (SF-36) to farm households and supply physical and economic data on farm businesses. A total of 574 health questionnaires were delivered to 325 farms generating usable responses from 195 respondents representing 125 farms.
4. Survey 2 was conducted among attendees of agricultural shows using the GHQ-12. A total of 784 respondents completed questionnaires as part of this survey.
5. Results from Survey 1 showed poor correlation between SF-36 physical and mental health scores and farm income. Thus it was not possible to reject the null
hypothesis that farmer health is not related to farm income. However, significant
differences in SF-36 mental health summary scores for farm income quartiles,
suggests that further research is merited.
6. Conversely, results from Survey 2 showed that the GHQ-12 scores for farmers and their spouses/partners were significantly higher than those of other show attendees, indicating they had poorer mental health.
7. The adopters of agri-environment schemes were found to have significantly higher SF-36 mental health summary scores (indicating better mental health) than non-adopters.
8. The findings related to agri-environment schemes are relevant to the development of integrated rural policy, and require further study. However, the general relationship between farmer mental health and farm income is unclear and warrants further investigation.