Minding your head

The news comes that there is a competition to find the youngest vlogger for the dairy industry underway, with the winner to be chosen at Borderways Dairy Expo, being held 10-11 March in Carlisle, UK. The theme is focused on dairying and educating primary school children as to where milk comes from. The competition is open to anyone up to 18 years of age, and entries must be submitted as vlogs, up to five minutes long. Event organiser Harrington & Hetherington says vlogging is the fastest growing medium for the younger generation. Entry forms and instructions can be downloaded from H&H’s Facebook page.

Which is interesting in itself, as Facebook is not really what the kids go for nowadays. Instagram, TikTok, perhaps, but Facebook is definitely “boomer tech” as the kids call it.

But it’s all good and I hope they get a good response and lots of vlogs to choose from.

Meanwhile, it’s also the launch of the sixth Mind Your Head campaign for farming in the UK this week, with the focus on taking actions to break down barriers to talking about mental health in agriculture. The Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) notes that farming has the poorest safety record of any occupation in the UK, and when farmers don’t take care of themselves with lower levels of mental well-being, they tend to make poor safety decisions on-farm, leading to accidents. Farming accounts for 1% of the working population but an alarming 18% of all workplace deaths (HSE Fatal Injuries in Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing Report in GB 2021/2022) A total of 22 farm workers lost their lives on UK farms over the past year. And, there were 36 suicides in farming in 2021/22. Not great reading, those statistics.

To that end, measures are being taken to raise awareness and offer more help to make sure they are talking about their well-being. There’s also the Five-A-Day challenge underway, or five things one can do every day to look after their mental health. These are all to the good. Remember, when in doubt, talk to the person. Sometimes it’s the littlest thing such as discussing the weather, or asking if they’re all right. You never know how much the smallest effort may make. And download that little book from the Yellow Wellies.

www.farminguk.com, www.yellowwellies.org

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