Psychology goes in search of new age Aussie farmers

When Chantal Corish set up a psychology practice in a farming town of 10,000 people, she was told it was destined to fail. People willing to be open about their challenges in a small rural community? Not likely, or so the locals reckoned. "A lot of people said to me, 'Nobody is going to talk to you, nobody talks about their mental health, it's something we keep behind closed doors'," Ms Corish said. Yet soon after opening her clinic in Goondiwindi, on the NSW-Queensland border, she was inundated with new clients every week. "It surprised me," she said. "There was a great need." Ms Corish, who lives on a cotton farm with her family, is part of a research team encouraging farmers to open up and re-think the stereotypical tough-as-nails approach to life on the land. Backed by the Cotton Research Development Corporation, she is doing a PhD investigating how psychological safety on farms can boost worker performance and employee retention. "Farmers are very compassionate and empathetic people but they have so much on their plate," Ms Corish said. "They have to be across finances, government regulations, commodity prices ... they tend to shove people management to the back of the line." Her work is included in the corporation's broader project called SHIFT, which is helping cotton growers and their employees tap into their leadership and people skills. It's hoped a stronger focus on workplace culture could make agriculture more attractive and address labour shortages, with total sector worker numbers down from 325,000 in 2020 to 271,000 in February. Central Queensland University researcher, Nicole McDonald, has been hosting peer-to-peer discussions with cotton farmers on how they can improve the people side of their businesses. A recurring theme is the challenge of managing young employees who are arriving at farms "greener" than ever before. Farmers reported many new recruits arrive at their gates having never worked or lived away from home. The SHIFT researchers came up with resources to help young workers develop non-technical skills, like receiving feedback, learning from their mistakes and building resilience. "It's about professionalising agriculture in terms of having safer, healthier, more productive workplaces," Dr McDonald said. Though the themes of SHIFT may be standard in the corporate sector, it's a new world for farmers who tend to work in isolation and rarely talk to others about the finer details of their operations. "It's an industry of entrepreneurs and people who are really passionate about farming. "(They) get into it because they love farming, not necessarily because they love running teams." Dr McDonald said just as producers continually embrace new technology, they must also adapt to modern, human-centred workplace expectations. "While the future of work is certainly about science and innovation, it's the people that are going to power it."