A farming influencer, who will be taking on a dairy farm near Newton Abbot next month, is backing a campaign launched today (February 9) to prevent suicides in the agricultural community.

Holly Atkinson, who has more than 10,000 followers on her Instagram account Holly.and.the.herd, is supporting the Farm Safety Foundation’s ninth annual Mind Your Head week, which launches today (February 9).

This year’s campaign is focused on suicide prevention and hopes to kick start conversations about mental health in the countryside and encourage farmers to learn practical skills to prevent suicide in the agricultural community.

Mental wellbeing among UK farmers is at its lowest level in four years, according to research by the Farm Safety Foundation, better known as Yellow Wellies. The latest Office of National Statistics figures showed 47 suicides were registered in England & Wales among the farming and agricultural industry in 2024, a 7% increase from 2022.

‘It’s such a difficult and emotive subject and probably one that people can be quite scared to talk about,’ Holly commented. ‘Unfortunately, I think that most farmers would be hard pushed to not know of at least one person (who has been affected by suicide)…That shows how important this is in terms of supporting not only the people it’s directly affecting but the wider community,’ she added.

‘Farming is quite a unique industry because often your work is your home and it’s all intertwined. Often people can’t get a break from it. You’re constantly living with it.’

Furthermore, farmers are renowned for being stoic and getting on with things. ‘But really, they don’t have a choice, because if they stop, the whole thing stops and it falls apart,’ Holly pointed out. ‘The ‘your’re strong if you carry on’ should be retold as ‘you’re not weak if you ask for help’.’

Holly, who worked as a vet before joining her husband on the farm, has first-hand experience of helping someone suffering a mental health crisis.

‘Luckily I was able to get that person help, but at the time I felt I lacked the skills and knowledge,’ she recalled. ‘I managed to muddle through and help, but I felt very much out of my comfort zone with it and I suddenly realised I had a big responsibility as a vet going out to all these farms, seeing people struggle and sometimes having to give them bad news.’

The experience prompted her to take a mental health first aider course, which she renewed last year.

As part of the Yellow Wellies Mind Your Head Week, the charity will be launching a new suicide prevention e-learning module, funded by The Royal Foundation and developed with Baton of Hope, tailored specifically for a farming audience.

The course will help learners to recognise the warning signs, use supportive, non-judgmental language and create simple safety plans – with clear signposting to the specialist help available.

‘Farming brings a unique set of pressures - long hours, isolation, financial uncertainty, generational expectations and physical risk. Conversations about suicide in rural communities require approaches that are real, relatable and rooted in lived experience,’ said Farm Safety Foundation manager Stephanie Berkeley. ‘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.’