Healthy Farmers Program

The Healthy Farmers Program has evolved since it started in 2005 as a simple education service with some 40,000 farmers having access to preventative health literature. Over the last few years the farming community leaders recognised the growing health pressures being faced by farmers was impacting its members and threatening the longevity of its industry.

These pressures are a combination of an ageing workforce, the strain on the farming community dealing with drought and industry related challenges, the limitation of the rural health system and the individual farmer’s belief that they shouldn’t worry about their health.

We’ve all heard the heart wrenching stories of farms being decimated by drought, fires, flood, debt and plagues – but the hidden truth is that the health of the farmer causes even greater stress to the farming community according to Dr Toby Ford (CEO of Ford Health).

Following a keynote address to the AgForce State Conference, AgForce invited Dr Toby Ford, to work with the organisation to demystify the management of personal health. Discussions with Ford Health have resulted in an Australian first initiative – The Healthy Farmers Program and the development of the AgForce Health Index. The Healthy Farmers Program is about demystifying health for people on the land – simplifying the process - and helping them take ownership of their health destiny.

Key publications and events that assisted the process include:

The Healthy Farmers Program started with educational seminars, newsletter articles and internet base courses. Through the leadership of AgForce and its members in 2006, a health assessment pilot was launched. This pilot was the first of its kind in Australia and it revealed a real need to fill a gap in health service access for farmers across Australia. Since the development of the Healthy Farmers Program, farmers can utilise this health assessment to improve their own health.

AgForce and Ford Health have accessed the following reports in the research and development of the Healthy Farmers Program:

  • ‘Living Longer on the Land - A health program that works’ - An economic evaluation of the Sustainable Farm Families Program, by Boymal, Rogers, Brumby & Willder, October 2007, RIRDC
  • ‘Living Longer on the Land – Sustainable Farm Families in Broadacre Agriculture’ by Brumby, Wilson & Willder, May 2008, RIRDC
  • ‘Rural, regional & remote health; indications of health status & determinants of health’, Australian Institute of Health & Water, March 2008
  • Various reports through ‘healthinsite’, an Australian Government Initiative
  • Reports from the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health & Safety
  • ‘Collaborative partnerships for Farm Health & Safety’ reports through Rural Industry Research & Development

Following the 2006 AgForce conference in Charleville where Dr Toby Ford addressed the delegates and presented a health and wellbeing workshop, AgForce in conjunction with Ford Health launched the Healthy Farmer Program in January 2007. In recognising some of the challenges regional and remote men and women have for health screening and prevention education, the service was designed to complete, in one visit, the full range of age and gender related health screenings. Additional to the assessment there was a stay-in-touch support program for one year.

This program focused on preventative health through education, health assessment and interventions which took place in a number of rural and regional locations in Queensland. As a result of its success the program was then rolled out across Australia to a number of farming groups.

Findings from the data showed that the AgForce Queensland members who participated displayed some positive lifestyle behaviours in terms of physical activity and dietary intake. However, there are several areas of concern for this group. Areas of significant concern include smoking tobacco and alcohol use, overweight and obesity levels in males and a need for more medical screening for the prevention of prostate and cervical cancer. Mental health issues are also prevalent to a concerning level, both in clinical states, self reported and self identified stress.

Following the success of the Healthy Farmers Pilot Program during 2006-2007, AgForce and Ford Health developed an online health risk assessment (HRA) during 2008 which was launched on April 15th 2009. The HRA allows for the collection of the health information for the individual online or manually, whilst continuing the collection of health data on a central database so that there is recording and reporting on the overall health of farmers in Australia which can be compared to norms within other populations.

This new online Healthy Farmers HRA initiative will allow the delivery of the health and wellbeing message to more farmers throughout Australia. It will also benefit from being more cost effective. It will also create a “virtual medical centre” where farmers can access various information including online presentations on health, factsheets on wellness and links to high quality community health web pages on medical issues.

In 2009 the Healthy Farmer program will provide:

  • Personalized thorough health assessment with printable report, letter for a doctor as well as follow up on urgent medical issues
  • Access to online workbooks to assist behaviour change on issues such as diet, exercise, mental health, smoking and alcohol intake
  • Access to over 300 factsheets each containing links to further education on the internet.
  • Access to 12 health seminars

The AgForce / Ford Health partnership has lead to further partnerships being initiated in order to reach as many farmers as possible across Australia. Further partnerships will be developed into the future in order to continue to build on the success of this program and to reach more farmers with the aim to initiate change in health practices and attitudes.

Agricultural associations which have helped distribute the Healthy Farmers Program

  • AgForce - Launch November 2006 to 8,000 Qld farmers
  • Growcom - Launched April 2007 to Qld 1200 farmers
  • Canegrowers - Launched April 2007 to Qld 3,000 farmers
  • Grain Growers Association – Launched June 2007 to 17,000 farmers QLD/NSW
  • Western Australian Farmers Federation – Launched March 2008 to 10,000 farmers WA

Ford Health has contributed the intellectual property for the Healthy Farmers Program which includes:

  • 12 seminar topics that were then converted into an e-learning course that is streamed to over 40,000 associated members
  • Monthly health articles for the different associations magazine
  • Health system to collate and document the health data
  • State Conference presentations outlining the findings and health recommendations

Ford Health manages the standards and accreditation for recruitment of health professionals and coordinates the logistics to fulfill the clinical requirements. The AgForce / Ford Health partnership is building the number of associations who will access the Healthy Farmer Program with a stated goal of having 100,000 new Healthy Farmers actively pursuing preventative health strategies for themselves.

The following bodies contribute support literature that is provided to the farmer at the completion of the health assessment.

  • Queensland Health – Qld Government
  • beyondblue
  • Diabetes Australia
  • Heart Foundation
  • The Cancer Council
  • CSIRO
  • Health & Productivity Institute of Australia
  • Australian Medical Association
  • Rural Doctors Association of Queensland
  • General Practice Queensland
  • Dietitians Association of Australia
  • Eat Well Be Active
  • QML Pathology

The Healthy Farmer Program was launched in 2006 as a join venture between Ford Health and AgForce and now incorporates many Farming Associations across Australia in recognition of the growing health pressures being faced by farmers.