New wellbeing plan for rural agribusiness owners

Our new online wellbeing plan has been created for small business owners working in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry in rural and remote Australia. The plan helps you reflect on what you are currently doing to maintain your wellbeing and set new goals to improve your mental health.

Small businesses in agriculture, forestry and fishing are vital to the Australian economy and employ the largest proportion of people of all industries in Australia when compared to medium and large businesses. However, working in a small, rural agribusiness is not without its challenges and stress, which can lead to negative impacts on mental health and wellbeing.

The new Rural Agribusiness Wellbeing Plan encourages you to be proactive about your mental health. It can help manage day-to-day work, as well as adverse events. Once the plan is completed, you are provided with a list of actions you can work on to improve your wellbeing.

The plan was developed based on feedback from rural agribusiness owners across NSW, including:

• 70% of agribusiness owners said they would look online first for support with their mental health. This is why the wellbeing plan is a digital resource, and directs users to other sources of supporting information online.
• The top five stressors identified by agribusiness owners were adverse weather events, financial difficulties, red tape, long hours and work-life balance. These factors formed the focus areas of the new wellbeing plan.
• The strategies most commonly used to manage mental health and wellbeing by agribusiness owners were making time to see family and friends, physical activity and exercise, and spending time on personal interests. These activities have been incorporated as important actions in the wellbeing plan.

Agribusiness owners from across NSW tested the plan and provided feedback, which was used to improve the plan to ensure it is relatable, useful and relevant to their unique work environments.

This project has been assisted by the New South Wales Government through the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA).