RSABI – Supporting People in Scottish Agriculture

Farming has changed dramatically on many fronts since I came home to farm, but perhaps the biggest change is in the number of people that now work on farms. 40 years ago the farm had 5 employees working, as well as Dad and my grandfather. Now there is myself and Dad, and a couple of part time helpers at harvest time. Farming can now be a very very lonely job.

Given that you are at the mercy of so many things beyond your control, and are living ‘on the job’ 24/7, it can be very easy to become wrapped up in your own wee world. It is perhaps no surprise that farming has one of the higher occupational rates of suicide in the UK.

I am fortunate in that I have many interests outside farming, and also have another business fixing computers, which gets me away from the place for a while and means I meet other people. But even I have to admit that there were times this harvest where I just felt that the pressure was getting a bit much.

RSABI is a charity who’s roots go back to 1897, when agriculture was going through a tough time, and people were in desperate need of help. The Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution was set up to help elderly, disabled, and distressed Scottish tenant farmers and their dependents, and has now become RSABI. You can read more about the charity by going here or the banner at the top of the article.

So why am I bringing them to your attention now? MacMillan Cancer Support are running a fund raiser called Sober October. Basically you get people to sponsor you to stay off the grog for all of October. Now, before people rush for the exit, I’m not about to ask anyone for sponsorship. In the first place, I want to do something to help RSABI, and secondly I would feel embarrassed at asking people to sponsor me for something like this.

I enjoy a beer or two, and a glass of wine or three at the weekend. Assuming the price of a good bottle of wine is around £10, and 3 or 4 good beers is another £10, that is £20 a weekend I spend. I am going to have a Sober October, and donate the £80 I save to RSABI at the end of the month. Now this WILL be a challenge. Just before my birthday I ‘replenished my cellar’ with some very nice wines that I have been enjoying the past few weekends. They will now sit and tempt me every Saturday night, and I’ll have to find an alternative to have with our chinese takeaway! 🙂 However, it is all in a good cause. Wish me luck, and I’ll let you know how it goes.