A farmer and mental health activist has started his 142-mile walk from Herefordshire to London to raise awareness for the struggles faced by the farming community.
Sam Stables, co-founder of mental health awareness group We Are Farming Minds, set off from Ross-on-Wye Market on Monday morning and will walk about 30 miles a day before reaching The Farmers Club in London on Friday.
The five-day mission was put together in partnership with the Farm Safety Foundation, Yellow Wellies and its Mind Your Head campaign, which launched on Monday to offer support and outreach to struggling farmers.
“It’s really important to me, not just my own personal struggles with mental health, but I’m also aware British farming is in crisis,” he said before setting off.
“It’s incredibly real and what farmers are facing, farming families, is unprecedented and I want to make the general public aware of what farmers are going through.
“A farmer a week takes their own life and certainly, it’s really, really important to raise awareness, but it’s also a message of hope that there is support out there.
“There are some incredible charities and some amazing people to talk to if you are in that dark place.”
Research by the Farm Safety Foundation found 95 per cent of farmers under the age 40 believe mental health is the biggest hidden issue facing the industry today.
Sam launched We Are Farming Families to fight to tide against British farmers
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Farm Safety Foundation
Suicide rates among the agricultural industry has also reached an alarming rate, with the latest Office for National Statstics data recording 47 suicides in England and Wales in 2024, up seven per cent from 2022.
Mr Stables’ walk will see him trek solo, which he said would “represent the isolation” faced by farmers as they “often feel like they’re on their own”.
His backpack features embroidered words including weather, finances, exhaustion, loneliness and regulations — all of which he deems factors for the ongoing epidemic of poor mental health in the farming community.
“I’m also going to carry a backpack to portray all the different things farmers carry on their back, often on their own in isolation,” he explained.
Financial factors plaguing British farmers are only growing, with inheritance tax hits of up to 20 per cent coming into force in April, and imported food sourced overseas raising fears British agriculture might become redundant entirely.
Most farmers are working alone, from dawn until dusk and in harsh weather conditions, with little time to eat, sleep, and enjoy a life outside of work.
Sam owns a farm in Herefordshire and has faced his fair share of struggles to maintain it
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Farm Safety Foundation
On his walk, the sheep farmer will be dependent on farming families to take him in each night, saying this would show “the togetherness of the community”.
Sam has a first-hand experience of the mental health struggles plaguing British farmers and considered taking his own life aged 32, due to overwhelming pressures and struggles to maintain the farm and be happy at the same time.
He was talked down by a neighbour and sought out support to turn his life around, launching We Are Farming Minds to offer mental health support to farmers and their families he wished he had at his lowest point.
The Farm Safety Foundation’s ninth annual Mind Your Head week runs from February 9 to 13, launching a new eLearning module, equipping learners to recognise warning signs, use supportive language and signpost the specialist help available in the sector.
Stephanie Berkeley, Manager of the Farm Safety Foundation, said: “There is still very little suicide prevention training tailored specifically for those working in agriculture.
“Without training designed for the realities of agricultural life, we risk leaving those most vulnerable without the tools they need to recognise warning signs and intervene effectively.”