'Farmers don't have time to tell their story': Scottish farmer plight spotlighted in night with renowned poets

Almost two years ago to the day, the poet laureate of Glasgow Jim Carruth’s life changed after his brother was injured while handling cattle. 

David, an eighth-generation farmer, was working alone on his dairy and beef farm in Renfrewshire. A cow kicked him and broke his wrist. 

Because there was no one else to complete the chores, David continued to milk the cows and finish the jobs that needed to be done before seeking medical help. 

Mr Carruth only found out about what his brother went through when he finally took himself to A&E. Shaken by the experience, the poet has since helped out on his brother’s farm three days a week. 

Jim Carruth, Scotland's leading rural poet | Supplied

“My brother just worked on his own all the time, with no breaks,” he said. “So many farmers work all day, alone, with no rest, every day.

“There isn’t the money always to get other people working with them. It’s really challenging for them.”

The day of his brother’s accident planted the seed of an idea that has grown into an event Mr Carruth is hosting this month - Keep Talking.

The all-star literary occasion will involve big names in the Scottish poetry scene coming together to share their work, with Mr Carruth giving a presentation on some of the figures highlighting the plight of farmers. 

The money raised from ticket sales will go towards the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RSABI), which provides practical, emotional and financial support to those working within the Scottish agriculture industry. It was set up in 1897 to help the Scottish farming community and their families during a period of agricultural depression.

The poetry event comes as farmers across the country are facing increasing uncertainty in the wake of the UK Government’s Autumn budget changes to tax. | Katharine Hay

While most of RSABI’s work is known among the rural community, Mr Carruth said he hoped his event would bring more awareness of some of the challenges faced by farmers to an urban crowd.

“The event will mostly have an urban audience, with people coming to hear the work of the poets,” he said. “But I hope it will provide an opportunity for awareness and education to people who might not know so much about what farmers deal with day to day.

“It’s a different thing trying to talk to urban audiences on the cost of what might be seen as cheaper food, rising prices, and the changes that have happened in farming over the years.

“It will be very much an event on ‘did you know this?’. For example, [there is] the cost of harvest and some of the figures around mental health and social isolation. It will be very much about trying to get people to think ‘how would you feel if this was what your week or your year was like?’.

“It’s about showing there’s human beings, individuals involved in this.”

Mr Carruth said the funds would be used to support the RSABI’s confidential helpline, which was set up to offer free support for the farming community across Scotland.

The charity confirmed it supported 200 calls a month through the service, which has seen an increase of 49 per cent more clients last year.

This year, an RSABI survey of Scottish farmers revealed 43 per cent of respondents took just two to five nights away from their farm last year.

Forty-one per cent of those who completed the survey cited worrying about the farm as a major barrier to taking an overnight break and less than half (47 per cent) felt confident that someone else could manage the farm in their absence.

Another survey found 95 per cent of farmers under the age of 40 believed poor mental health was the biggest hidden problem facing farmers today.

According to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, the suicide rate for male farm workers is three times the male national average, with three people in the UK farming and agricultural industry dying by suicide every week.

The top three barriers stopping people reaching out are the stigma around mental health (18 per cent), not knowing who to turn to (15 per cent) and lack of awareness of support available (15 per cent).

Mr Carruth’s story about his brother showed another challenge the farming community faces: the high-risk nature of the job.

According to the Health and Safety Executive, agriculture has the worst rate of worker fatal injury (per 100,000 workers) of all the main industry sectors, with the annual average injury rate over the past five years around 21 times as high as the all-industry rate.

Older workers (45-plus) account for 80 per cent of all work-related fatalities in agriculture over the past five years.

Mr Carruth said: “As well as working long hours, social isolation, the impact of the increased cost of living and climate change, there is so much uncertainty on the future of funding for farmers.

“The recent budget has also added to this by bringing more uncertainty.”

He said while there needed to be change at policy level, and more funding awarded to organisations like RSABI, the poet said he hoped his event would “keep people talking”.

“Farmers don’t have time to tell their own story, and are reticent to talk about the challenges in some cases, or don’t have someone to talk to,” Mr Carruth said.

“The idea for Keep Talking came from something about that silence, and these poets who are very good with words and good at speaking about their writing which seemed to make a good fit.”

Pauline Macmillan, head of fundraising at RSABI said: “We are extremely grateful to Jim for organising such a fantastic line-up of talent to help support the work we do within Scottish agriculture. 

“It’s set to be a fantastic evening and hopefully a chance for those out with the farming community to hear more about the issues facing farmers and the value of our ‘Keep Talking’ campaign.”

The line-up of poets include: Graeme Macrae Burnet, Miriam Gamble, John Glenday, Liz Lochhead, Marjorie Lofti, Bernard MacLaverty, Peter Mackay, Andrew O’Hagan, Gerda Stevenson, Zoe Strachan, Malachy Tallack and Louise Welsh.

Keep Talking will take place on Tuesday, November 19 in the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow.