A deeper understanding of all the issues affecting farmers which increase the incidence of death by suicide is needed, Teagasc researcher Dr David Meredith told the Irish Farmers Journal.

While the number of farmers over the age of 65 dying by suicide is almost three times higher than that of their non-farming counterparts, the total number of farmers dying by suicide is following the same pattern as the overall population, Meredith explained.

The study took into account not just farm holders, but spouses, farm family workers and employees.

Approximately 270,000 people were considered to be a part of this population, according to Meredith, who worked alongside Anne Markey from UCD in the study.

Looking at 2020, in particular, the rate for farmers who died by suicide was slightly above what the population rate was. However, Meredith said that from a statistical point of view, it isn’t a statistically significant difference.

“When I stand back and look at this study, it comes back to this issue: we shouldn’t assume that farming is the cause of suicide of farmers. There are many factors that can lead to somebody taking their life.”

‘Better understanding’

“We need a better understanding of what are the issues associated with farming that really cause very serious problems and that’s not going to be easy to find out,” he said.

“At the end of the day you’re going to have to talk to people who are not in a great place. But, that’s the job of researchers to try and shine a light on it so we can improve things in the long run,” he said.

Meredith explained that when researchers in this field talk to farmers and ask them what they like about farming, there are lots of things they talk positively about.

“I’m not talking about general conversations, when we do research on this – it’s that contact with nature which is really important to them, that they really value. And, yes sometimes the weather can be horrible and it can be really difficult to manage but there are many good moments that farmers appreciate.

“It’s also about that attachment to seasons, that attachment to communities and the connection with nature –that they’re part of how cycles move over time, how things grow and obviously they’re producing food which has an enormous benefit for the rest of society, even if society doesn’t sometimes value that enough,” he said.

All these aspects of farming, Meredith said, are of “huge protection” to wellbeing and mental health because they know that they are valued socially and that they are connected socially.

The rate of suicide among farmers increased very dramatically from 2007

He stressed that by continuing to gather this type of data allows researchers to take what they know now and use it to move forward and make things better for the farming population.

“Equally, we can take the limitations we know about and use that to go to whether it’s the CSO, whether it’s the HSA or the National Office for Suicide Prevention and say, listen, we need to do better and we need to understand more about this particular issue and how it manifests in farming populations,” Meredith said.

Research into 457 farmer suicides between 2007 and 2020 found that deaths by suicide were at their highest in 2013 (45) and lowest in 2019 (22). More positively, the study found that farmer suicide rates are declining.

“The rate of suicide among farmers increased very dramatically from 2007, but particularly 2008 up to 2013 and has been declining since but not declining in a smooth line,” he explained.

“If there is any sort of positive dimension to this it’s that the rate is not as high as it used to be among farmers.”