Look out for each other and look after yourself – that is the message Fiona Marshall is extending to grain growers this harvest.
Recently appointed to the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Southern Regional Panel, Mrs Marshall says safety and wellbeing – physical and mental – should be the number one priority at harvest.
“Safety is the most important thing heading into and throughout harvest,” she said.
“You have to look after each other, take care of yourself and maintain conversations.”
Mrs Marshall, a farm business manager and graingrower at Mulwala in the southern Riverina, NSW, says the need to support others has been heightened this year following severe weather events, particularly late season frosts, that are expected to result in significant crop losses for some growers.
“The late frosts have not been widespread across entire regions, and that is what makes this situation so incredibly difficult – unlike a drought or a flood when so many farmers would be going through the same thing at the same time and recognition of their plight is extensive, these frost events are in isolation and growers are left to deal with the fall-out,” she said.
“When your neighbours are celebrating a bumper harvest but your crops have been wiped out by frost, it is a devastating position for a grower to be in.”
Mrs Marshall, who has been farming with her husband Craig for 21 years, says it is critical that growers affected by frost and others hit by recent damaging weather events seek support and maintain communication with family, friends and others in the community.
“Communication, in fact, is the key for all graingrowers, especially at this time of the year,” she said.
“If you are lying in bed at night worrying about money or how you are going to get the next crop in, talk to the bank manager, talk to other people.
“Don’t internalise because you will only make yourself more tired, stressed and anxious.
“As hard as it may be, you just have to deal with situations and move on so whatever happens, at least you are in action and not just dwelling on something and achieving nothing.”
Mrs Marshall said there were still some long, and hot, days ahead and “so many things can go wrong at harvest”.
“Farms are the most dangerous workplaces in the nation and at harvest that fact is amplified with so many people and large machinery involved,” she said.
“Not cutting corners, and keeping people fed, hydrated and well rested is vital.
“If you’re tired, you have just got to stop and rest. Getting to the end of harvest without incident and celebrating together is so important.”
Mrs Marshall says downtime after the crops are harvested is also imperative.
“Harvest is an absolutely exhausting process – but it’s what we work towards all year,” she said.
“Taking some time away from the farm at the end of it all is critical.”
To support growers experiencing difficult circumstances, the GRDC has produced a Farmer Health fact sheet on Building Emotional Resilience. View it here.
