Rural Mental Health Week: YOLO Farmer on change in the rural sector

YOLO Farmer Wayne Langford. Photo / Supplied

Wayne Langford is a busy man.

The Golden Bay dairy farmer is not only the founder of charity Meat the Need, but also the national dairy industry group chair for Federated Farmers.

However, most people will know him from social media as "the YOLO Farmer" where he aimed to do a challenge every day, after adopting the phrase "You Only Live Once."

The YOLO Farmer way of life came about four years ago during a difficult time, Langford told The Country's Jamie Mackay.

"I got myself in a pretty tough spot and I decided, jeez, if I don't do something about it, it's going to get a whole lot worse and probably won't end well."

Langford and his family decided to do something every day "to say that we'd lived for that day."

"Now we're 1460-odd days into this journey and we've never looked back really."

While Langford admitted that "the old clouds come rolling in and it gets a bit grey at times," he now knew how to deal with these feelings.

Listen below:

"I often compare it to a tractor that's overheated, sometimes you've just got to let it sit for a while and just cool back down."

Langford had also learned about his trigger points and what to do with them. He said it was important for farmers to learn to deal with change, especially with some Governmental reforms.

"Change is very difficult to handle for most people…the changes that are being brought on the farming industry – [farmers'] first answer is 'no' and quite often there's a bit of anger that comes around behind it."

However, sometimes reforms weren't practical, and Langford used his role at Federated Farmers to help - but he said change was inevitable in farming.

"We will still see significant changes in our sector in the next ten years and I encourage farmers to have a think about that and what that will look like in their farming business."

Meanwhile, Langford's charity Meat the Need was doing well, but he needed more farmers to get behind the cause.

Meat the Need aimed to get farmers' donated produce to food banks around the country.

"We'd really love the support of any farmer that could donate just a little but because it makes a massive, massive difference."

Find out more about Meat the Need here.

Also in today's interview: Langford talked about how the meat industry got through last year's level four lockdown.

Where to get help:

Rural Support Trust: 0800 787 254
Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
Youthline: 0800 376 633
Kidsline: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
Whatsup: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)
Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (available 24/7)

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.