Why increasing number of farmers are at crisis point – and Prince William is being urged to ‘speak up’
A farming mental health charity supported by Prince William has told Sky News it has seen a direct link between recent government policies and an increase in the number of farmers at crisis point.
It comes as a farming activist said it was William’s “duty” to speak up for farming – and criticised the Royal Family for being too quiet on the issues the community faces.
Sam and Emily Stables set up the charity We Are Farming Minds in 2020 after Sam tried to take his own life.
He speaks publicly about his experience in the hope his story encourages others to get help.
“[Farming has] one of the highest suicide rates of any industry [and] the pressures that the farming community are under are beyond immense,” he says. “It’s not a job, it’s a life, it’s a family, it’s everything.”
Recalling the day he tried to end his life, Sam says: “I can remember going to the farm, collecting the livestock.
“[There were] so many different things running through my head that morning, but one of them [was] knowing exactly what I needed to do, that life for me, the pain in my head, just needed to stop… And then I remember being in hospital.”
Sam Stables speaks publicly about his attempt to end his life
In recent months, We Are Farming Minds says it has been inundated with farmers in crisis and needing help. Sam and Emily say this is directly linked to the changes in government policy, especially around inheritance tax.
The changes to inheritance tax, revealed in the budget and set to come into force in April 2026, will see death duties payable by some farmers on agricultural and business property.
The Treasury estimates the changes will raise up to £520m a year. Farmers and campaigners say they threaten the future of thousands of multi-generational family farms.
Emily says her charity has “already had 11 counselling referrals this year alone, which is busy for us”.
Emily Stables said her charity has been ‘busy’ with referrals this year
“I think people are just feeling that… it is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she added
“You’ve got the weather… you’ve got variance in prices all the time. You’ve got… livestock dying. Everything’s so out of your control, and then to not have the support of your government is a massive, a massive impact on everybody.”
As tenants on the Duchy estate, they have received support from their landlord, Prince William, financially, through private meetings and support for their events.
Pic: PA
“He certainly doesn’t say that he knows everything there is to know about farming,” Emily says, but adds: “It’s really great to be able to feed back to him and increase his knowledge as well about issues within the farming community.”
But what William is prepared to say on farming more widely right now really matters.
He became one of Britain’s biggest landowners when he inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, which funds the heir to the throne.
This is why his actions are significant to hundreds of tenant farmers on that land, as well as the wider farming community.
And it’s why Gareth Wyn Jones, a farmer from North Wales who has been heavily involved in the recent farming protests, is disappointed in what he’s seen.
Gareth Wyn Jones has taken part in the recent farming protests
Gareth says the Prince of Wales and the wider Royal Family have a “duty” to do more.
Speaking about farmers who contact him on social media, he says: “When you speak to a farmer who’s lost his dad a couple of nights before, and his father took his own life the night before the budget, because he had the good inclination that this was going to happen, it’s heartbreaking. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.”
He added: “They’ve been very, very quiet, the prince and the King, to be honest with you. But I suppose if it doesn’t go into their pockets, the inheritance tax won’t bother them.
“Prince William has the Duchy of Cornwall, now he’s running that, he should be connecting to these people. He should be talking to these people.
“These people have a duty to the farming community and to the countryside community to speak up, speak up for the people that are struggling and suffering.”
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A government spokesperson told Sky News: “We understand the importance of mental health support and this government is committed to tackling the mental health crisis in our farming communities.
“That’s why we are investing billions of pounds and recruiting 8,500 mental health professionals across the NHS.
“More widely, we are going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce, reforming planning rules on farms to support food production, and making the supply chain work more fairly.”
I spoke to Prince William at a recent Duchy event, where he told me that since taking over the estate there have been certain things he’s wanted to change – which is why, across the estate, there is now an increased focus on mental health, homelessness and a push for the Duchy be net zero by the end of 2032.
It feels like a blueprint for his priorities as heir to the throne and a way of him showing what him, and his advisers, mean when they talk about showing “empathic leadership”.
He has publicly spoken about being an ardent supporter of the farming community, but with farmers and the government at loggerheads, it does highlight the quandary for an heir to the throne wanting to show more empathic leadership on key social issues, and the risk of overstepping the lines of political neutrality.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Spring sunshine will return to parts of the UK in time for Mother’s Day and continue into next week – potentially bringing the hottest day of the year so far, forecasters have said.
Sky weather producer Kirsty McCabe said Mothering Sunday was likely to be a “mostly fine day with bright or sunny spells once early low cloud and drizzle clears”.
She predicted there would be “temperatures near or above average” for most places.
Afterwards, however, high pressure is set to dominate. There is a good chance the highest temperature of the year so far will be reached by the middle of next week, topping the high of 21.3C (70F) recorded on 20 March.
However, the far north and west of the British Isles are likely to be cloudier and windier with a risk of rain.
The Met Office has also forecast that warm conditions will return on Sunday after a brief, changeable period in what it called “typical spring fashion”.
Central and inland areas should have the warmest weather on Mother’s Day, with its forecasters also predicting “a short-lived spell of unsettled weather this weekend”.
A woman enjoys the warmer weather in London’s Green Park. Pic: PA
But the Met Office added the country would “transition back towards a blocked weather pattern as high pressure builds on Sunday and dominates our weather through much of next week”.
Honor Criswick, a meteorologist from the agency, said the high pressure would “stick around as we head into next week, bringing some fine and settled conditions, perhaps even some warm sunshine”.
Partial solar eclipse in parts of UK
Ms Criswick said Sunday morning would be cloudy, with possible drizzle and mist, but that would give way to a dry day with “some sunny spells, particularly across central and inland areas of the UK”.
She predicted there would be “quite a settled start to the week next week, lots of sunny spells and also some quite warm temperatures”.
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Meanwhile, a partial solar eclipse will be visible in parts of the UK between 10am and noon on Saturday.
Those in the east of the country will have the best chance of seeing it.
The phenomenon occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth. However, the three planetary bodies will not be completely aligned, meaning only part of the sun will be obscured this weekend.
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