Fifth-generation dairy farmer Jane Polson knows first-hand the toll that repeated natural disasters and mounting financial pressures can take on farming families.
Based at Oxley Island, near Taree on the NSW Mid North Coast, Jane and her business partner Murray operate a dairy farm with deep family roots. Their children are the sixth generation connected to the property.
In recent years, the family has endured multiple major floods, including the devastating 2021 floods and record-breaking floods in 2025.
The 2021 disaster struck just weeks before Jane gave birth to her youngest child.
Widely described as the “mother of all floods”, it swept across the property, killing about 120 of the farm’s approximately 600 cattle and washing away about 2000 bales of hay and silage. Crops were destroyed, machinery damaged and farm infrastructure extensively affected.
For Jane, the loss of animals they had spent decades breeding was among the hardest parts.
“It was a terrible feeling,” she said.
“There was no control. No matter how good a farmer you are, cattle you have loved and spent decades breeding premium genetics into were dying before your eyes.”
Years later, the family is still dealing with the consequences.
“It’s not one thing that breaks you. It’s the cumulative loss.”
Jane’s experience reflects a much wider problem confronting Australian agriculture, with new research showing farmers are facing sustained financial, environmental and mental health pressures — and a significant proportion are considering leaving the industry.
The 2026 Norco National Farmer Wellbeing Report, produced in partnership with the Black Dog Institute, found more than half of farmers surveyed (54 per cent) had felt depressed or down during the past two years.
Almost a quarter (24 per cent) reported often or always feeling anxious, while one in three (33 per cent) said their mental health had deteriorated during the past 12 months.
One in five farmers (19 per cent) reported poor mental health, almost twice the proportion who reported poor physical health (10 per cent).
Most concerningly, one in seven farmers (15 per cent) reported having thoughts of self-harm or suicide during the past two years.
The findings come as farmers contend with rising fuel, fertiliser and freight costs, repeated natural disasters and global instability.
Financial pressures are also forcing many to seek additional sources of income. More than a quarter of farmers surveyed (27 per cent) said their farms had operated at a loss during the past three years. Of those, three-quarters (75 per cent) said the losses had negatively affected their mental health.
Almost six in 10 farmers (59 per cent) are relying on off-farm work or secondary occupations to remain financially viable, while 17 per cent are working an additional 30 hours or more each week — almost the equivalent of taking on a second full-time job.
Almost one in four (23 per cent) said they often struggled to cope with the demands of farming.
Jane said the pressures facing farmers were often less visible than the disasters or rising prices seen in the headlines.
“People see natural disasters, fuel shortages or rising prices in the headlines, but what they don’t always see is the emotional and financial toll farmers are carrying every single day,” Polson said.
“The ongoing uncertainty across so many areas is very real, and unfortunately those pressures don’t switch off when the workday ends.
“Farming is not just a job for most people, it’s a way of life for families, and one that’s often built over generations. But many farmers are exhausted and carrying the weight of navigating these increasingly difficult circumstances.”
The report suggests those pressures are also prompting farmers to reconsider their future in agriculture.
Two in five farmers surveyed (41 per cent) said they had considered leaving the industry, while 27 per cent said they were no longer optimistic about the future of farming in Australia.
More than nine in 10 (91 per cent) believed the role of farmers was undervalued by the Australian public.
The potential loss of farmers has raised broader concerns about regional communities and Australia’s long-term food security.
Most farmers surveyed (79 per cent) came from multigenerational farming families, but many did not have clear succession plans.
Norco chief executive officer Michael Hampson said the findings showed the pressures identified in the organisation’s first Farmer Wellbeing Report in 2023 had not eased.
“Our 2023 Farmer Wellbeing Report shone a confronting light on the challenges facing Australian farmers, but these latest findings show those pressures have certainly not eased,” Hampson said.
“Over recent years we’ve seen repeated natural disasters, rising operating costs and global instability all converge at once, and this report shows that the human impact is becoming increasingly severe.
“Farmers produce around 90 per cent of the food consumed in Australia, yet many are now reconsidering their future in the industry. That has significant implications not only for farming families and regional communities, but for Australia’s long-term food security.”
The report found 94 per cent of farmers believed Australia’s long-term food security depended on stronger support for farmers and regional communities.
Black Dog Institute executive director and chief scientist Professor Samuel Harvey said the combination of pressures experienced by farmers had created a growing mental health problem.
“The specific intersection of occupational, social, cultural and environmental stressors experienced by farmers has created a large and growing mental health crisis within Australia’s farming communities,” Professor Harvey said.
“Three years on from the first National Farmer Wellbeing Report, the continued scale of distress and unmet mental health care needs across the agricultural sector is deeply concerning. The results show we now have a situation that cannot be ignored.”
Professor Harvey said addressing the problem required both access to mental health care and action on the underlying economic and environmental pressures affecting farmers.
“We need to equip regional communities to better support each other and ensure farmers can access timely, high-quality professional mental health care when they need it, no matter where they live.
“But we also need to recognise the power policymakers have to improve farmer wellbeing through better responses to the economic and climate challenges they face. Mental health support is critical, but so too is addressing the underlying pressures that are driving distress in the first place.”
For Jane, continuing to farm remains closely tied to family, identity and the generations that came before her.
“We continue farming because it’s what we know,” she said.
“It gives me great pride to supply milk to Norco. Seeing the tanker able to pick up milk for the first time after the flood was an amazing feeling.”
Despite the repeated setbacks, she remains determined to preserve the family farming legacy and give the next generation the opportunity to continue it.
If you or anyone you know needs help:
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636
- Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
- MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
- Head Space on 1800 650 890
- Rural Aid Counselling on 1300 175 594
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