Suicide among farmers provokes government action
BMJ 1994; 308 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.308.6935.1001 (Published 16 April 1994) Cite this as: BMJ 1994;308:1001- L Dillner
The high rate of suicide among farmers in Britain has prompted the Department of Health to fund an investigation into stress in rural areas. Farmers are nearly twice as likely to kill themselves as the average person, and figures from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys show that farming has the fourth highest suicide rate of all occupations. Only vets, pharmacists, and dentists have higher rates.
According to the Samaritans, suicide is the second most common cause of death among farmers - accidents are the first. “We have been concerned about farmers for some time and have formed rural initiatives with groups such as the Farmers' Union and Citizens' Advice Bureau to offer practical and emotional support,” said Di Stubbs, national outreach organiser for the Samaritans. “Our own records are minimal and much of our evidence is anecdotal, but our helplines are being increasingly used by farmers.”
John Ford, a spokesman for the Farmers' Union, said that farmers had seen their incomes fall dramatically over the past 10 years. “Although in the past year things have picked up; but farmers in the remote hills are still in financial difficulties.”
Farmers are also more likely to feel stress because they are isolated. Many farms are now family concerns. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food estimates that 120 000 jobs have disappeared from the agricultural industry in the past 20 years. “There will now be one farmer on his combine harvester rather than 20 farm workers bringing in the harvest,” said Di Stubbs. “The farmer's wife is no longer always at home - many have had to go out to work to support the farm. If the farm fails the farmer will feel that he has let down not only his children but everyone who has ever farmed that land. Farmers also have the means to kill themselves. Firearms feature in 39% of suicides.”
Between 1979 and 1990, according to data from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, 526 farmers committed suicide. The Farmers' Union estimates that there are over 100 000 farmers in Britain. “But so many more suicides are recorded as farm accidents,” said Di Stubbs. “Coroners want to be sure before they deprive families of insurance policies.”
The research, funded by the Department of Health, is being undertaken by Dr Keith Hawton and Dr Aslog Malmberg, psychiatrists at Oxford University. They are interviewing relatives and close friends of 50 farmers who killed themselves and examining the circumstances and motives behind their suicides.
Dr John Wynn-Jones, a general practitioner in Montgomery in Wales and medical adviser to The Archers, an agricultural soap opera on BBC Radio 4, said that suicides were the tip of the iceberg of the stresses of rural life.
“This is an environment where people do not share their problems,” he said. “For farmers their farm is their life. They live and work on their farm. It's common for them to go 20 years without having a holiday.”