Dairy farmer and mental health counsellor Sarah Crosthwaite is embarking on study to understand how different agricultural sectors across the world support their producers’ mental health, especially in a changing climate.
Sarah has been awarded a Nuffield Scholarship, supported by the Gardiner Dairy Foundation, to study this important topic.
Sarah and husband Stuart returned to the family’s The Hermitage Dairy operation in the Kiewa Valley in north-east Victoria in 2005. It runs 500 Friesian cows on 607 hectares, to produce four million litres of milk a year.
Since returning to the business, they have invested heavily in infrastructure, including a feedpad and shed to manage climate and seasonal impacts on the cows.
Sarah and Stuart are also founding members of the Mountain Milk Co-op, which was formed after the collapse of Murray Goulburn in 2016. They have grown the business, and they now employ four full-time staff.
This has allowed Sarah to work part-time as a natural disaster clinician. She works across the Ovens Murray region offering on-farm therapeutic counselling to people with mental health issues.
Through her Nuffield Scholarship, Sarah plans to study the topic ‘Mentally healthy farmers equal a healthy dairy industry during the adversity of climate change’.
“With the predicted climate change impacts and knowledge of greater mental health issues, I am keen to learn from agricultural sectors across the world,” she said.
Sarah hopes to visit Canada, the United States, Scotland, France and parts of Australia.
“I want to understand and share with Australia’s agricultural industries learnings that have been gained from such disasters in relations to farmers’ mental health and wellbeing.
“I will study how these can be implemented to support dairy farmers’ mental health in the north-east of Victoria so that they can continue to grow healthy dairy businesses while facing the challenge of climate change.”
Sarah was one of 19 scholarship recipients for 2023 announced on September 12 at Tamworth.
Nuffield Australia CEO and 2013 Scholar Jodie Redcliffe said the scholarships enabled producers to learn about farming systems and innovations that could be game-changers for Australian agriculture.
“Nuffield Australia opens the world up for people in agriculture who are brave enough to be out of their comfort zone,” Jodie said.
“A global perspective enables them to learn, be competitive and grow.
“All our scholars are tackling topics that are important to the sustainability of the industry they love — whether that’s by optimising productivity, meeting market requirements, enhancing biosecurity, reducing chemical inputs, adapting to climate change or improving animal welfare.”
To learn more about Nuffield Australia, visit: www.nuffield.com.au