Lincolnshire Rural Support Network members visit Market Rasen Rotary

As a farmer’s daughter from Manby that has been in her family for over 100 years (and now a farmer herself) Emma was immersed in the Agricultural environment from a young age. She is also a presenter with Sean Dunderdale on Radio Lincolnshire Farmwatch – Farm Diaries – this is broadcast on Sunday evenings from 18:00 to 19:00 and portrays the challenges and ups and downs of life on a small family farm.

The LRSN has been set up to act as a ‘Listening Ear to the Agricultural and Horticultural industries’. The Charity was set up some 25 years ago to support everyone who works in Agriculture or Horticulture in the large county of Lincolnshire. We are all aware that farming has met with some huge challenges recently – BREXIT, high and increasing costs, war in Ukraine raising fuel prices, animal diseases such as TB, the end of Government subsidies as previously administered and now Inheritance Tax changes.

As a charity LRSN is a unique organisation, covering an area from the Humber in the North to the Wash down in the South. Its focus on the county allows them to address the Agricultural and Horticultural Communities easily and quickly and to develop genuine personal connections. A key to the success of LRSN has been, and continues to be its volunteers, like James. These volunteers help caseworkers, they help on the phone helplines and they support local events and generally are in contact with the whole Agricultural and Horticultural community.

The importance of Lincolnshire can be seen in the agricultural statistics: it produces enough barley to make over 3 billion pints of beer each year. Lincolnshire Dairy Farmers produce over 45 million litres of milk each year. Over 40% of the country’s cut flowers are produced here.

Lincolnshire produces over 11% of the country's annual wheat requirements, enough to make over 2 billion loaves of bread. Around 20% of the country's sugar beet is grown here, enough to make 20 million bags of sugar. Oats are produced, enough to make over 10 million breakfasts for every single day. Around 30% of England’s vegetables and leafy salads are grown in this county, and about 13% of the country’s potatoes.

Why is LRSN as a charity so needed today? Slashed government support, extreme and unpredictable weather, animal diseases, crop diseases, labour shortages, and the retail power of large supermarkets all give rise to uncertainty for the future. Finances, business succession, long working hours, usually in isolation, all lead to pressure on family relationships and can lead to poor physical and mental health. 47% of the farming community now experience anxiety and over 33% suffer from depression. The average working week for a farmer is around 65 hours and a farmer is 22 times more likely to be killed than the average UK worker.

A short video which gave an insight into the type of clients that LRSN is dealing with every day. The video was very informative and clearly highlighted the pressures on people in these industries and how the ability to contact LRSN was incredibly helpful and beneficial. LRSN helpline is open from 8am to 8pm every day.

This helpline is manned by a team of trained volunteers, who will listen without any judgement and is completely confidential. They are available to help those involved in farming, forestry and horticulture but also suppliers and in the ancillary industries. This helpline is the initial point of contact for access to their one-to-one support: Tel. 0800 138 1710 or email [email protected]

LRSN employ three registered nurses who go out to livestock markets in Louth and Spalding and in Brigg to Peacock and Binnington. They also have a ‘Health Hut’ which is a modified caravan (with a qualified nurse) that is towed around the county, usually two days a week. The nurses will offer basic health checks – blood pressure etc – and often get talking to the farmers when other issues may come to light.

Farmers, usually being in a solitary environment, are notoriously difficult to get to ‘open up’ about issues that they may have. The health clinics have been found to be very effective in reaching out to individuals who would not normally go to seek help.

LRSN have a total of eight paid assistants or administrators and try to keep their running costs at an absolute minimum by everyone working from home. LRSN is financed by a small but reducing grant from Government, and by donations from the public and the agricultural and horticultural industries.

What they are finding is that many of the cases they have are tending to be much more complex thanbefore. Whilst they used to be able to send one caseworker to a family suffering financial issues, today they may require up to six caseworkers to help with much more complex issues.

This is where their access to volunteers from all walks of life and with all types of skills and experiences is vital. Emma said that over the last year they have seen an increase in over 93% in the number of calls for help.

James pointed out that he thought that over the last 10 years they had helped more than 3000 people and that currently they had around 2-300 people being helped. Emma said it was important that when they took on a case they remained active with the client until recovery.

One client said that life was like a game of snakes and ladders and in his case there were a lot of snakes and few ladders. It was not until he came across LRSN that he was able to find a ladder and climb out of his problems.

Mental health issues were becoming a bigger problem than in the past. One LRSN nurse is specialising in well-being and has been attending all the Young Farmer Clubs in the county and delivering a well-being and mental health package that seems to have gone down very well. The young farmers today seem to be aware that it is now okay to say that they are not okay, and to talk about it.

Emma acknowledges the role that ladies play in our farming industry. Ladies are also isolated and LRSN have set up a ‘Ladies in Wellies’ group where rural ladies are brought together in monthly meetings to get together and have a fun day with various events planned.

They can get health checks and well-being checks and help with any issues that they may have. It is important that we appreciate the help and support that our ladies offer to our industry – just as much as the men – LRSN does just that.

LRSN are always looking for new volunteers and James said that while they have a great team of about 60 volunteers as well as the employed staff, they still need more help as the demand for their services continues to grow.

Donations are always welcome and there are a number of ways to contribute to the charity, please see the link below to their website. Isolation is a huge problem. Farmers and farm workers could be out all day on their tractor and never see a soul.

This puts a great strain on their well-being particularly now when there are so many negative pressures facing the industry. Emma also had to mention that she had been invited to participate at King Charles coronation because LRSN had become known to the then Prince Charles who was, and still is, very concerned about the state of family farms in the UK and the well-being of the farmers.

For information about LNSR: https://www.lrsn.co.uk, The Helpline is 0800 138 1710.