Skip to main content

Trusted Voices: Exploring the Wellbeings of Farmers and Farm Workers Through Their Trustworthy Networks

Description

The project examines the formal and informal support networks of farmers and farm workers, as well as the reasons for the concerns and hardships faced by those who farm, as described by members of these networks. Its purpose is to deepen understanding of the root causes of poor wellbeings and mental health in farming.

The livelihoods and mental wellbeings of farmers and farm workers are increasingly threatened by the global restructuring of agriculture, environmental challenges, and cultural and structural barriers to seeking help. Despite the social restructuring of farming communities, researchers recognise strong family and community relationships as an important source of self-help in overcoming farm distress.

The project pays particular attention to accidental counsellors – those who help farmers and farm workers with health and other challenges without formal mental health training. In this way, the project advances the research agenda, which has, though rarely and only recently, adopted a non-medical approach, and shifts the focus from the personal circumstances of farmers’ mental health (such as depression and suicide) to the social, cultural, and moral circumstances of farming, as described by farmers and farm workers themselves in the context of experiencing distress, but not by their trustees.

The project aims to identify the landscapes of support and the trustees of farmers and farm workers, as well as the structural, ethical, and relational dynamics that influence wellbeings, as revealed by their interpretations and observations of the challenges facing the farming sector and way of life. 

An original synthesis and critical confrontation of the collected ethnographic material, the concepts of the landscape of support and accidental counsellors, and theorisations of wellbeings, moral economy, and the good farmer present the project team with an ambitious objective: to contribute to the development of a new interdisciplinary approach to studying wellbeings in farming.


Project Stages

The project comprises two working sets and eight work packages. The first and main working set is based on ethnographic fieldwork among farmers, farm workers, and primarily accidental counsellors. Given the lack of research and general information on the mental distress experienced by farmers and farm workers in Slovenia, the second working set involves conducting an epidemiological study of mental health statistics among members of Slovenian farm businesses.

Work Package 1: Internal communication and administration (M1–36)
Organisation and conduct of research team meetings, preparation of reports, establishment of communication channels and online tools for data collection and storage, as well as financial and administrative monitoring and support for the project.

Work Package 2: Upgraded and updated literature (M3–15)
Interdisciplinary critical comparison of different interpretations of selected concepts and theorisations through project team reading sessions and discussions. 

Work Package 3: Pre-fieldwork logistics (M8–17)
Desk research on available support mechanisms and services for farmers, determination of interview topics, planning of fieldwork entry, and organisation of field logistics.

Work Package 4: Fieldwork (M11–29)
Conducting participant observation, individual and group interviews, real-time transcription, content analysis, and (pseudo)anonymisation of ethnographic data.

Work Package 5: Overview of mental health statistics (M1–24)
Extraction, review, cross-referencing, and analysis of data from two databases.

Work Package 6: Final Analysis (M25–36)
Critical group assessment of analysed data from the two working sets during project team meetings, and preparation of scientific publications. 

Work Package 7: Dissemination (M6–36)
Development and updating of the Communication Plan, targeting the general public, decision-makers, and professional and educational communities through various outreach activities.

Work Package 8: Research data management (M1–36)
Development and updating of the Data Management Plan, preparation of the application for the ZRC SAZU Committee for Ethics, Integrity and Equal Opportunities in Research, and preparation of protocols, research data and metadata for publication in a trustworthy repository.


Results

Scientific contribution

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION

Slovenc Grasselli, Mateja. 2026. „Negotiating farmers’ cooperation amid market and rural polarisation: insights from Slovenia“. EASA Poznan 2026: anthropology: possibilities in a polarised world: 21-24 July 2026. EASA Poznan 2026: anthropology: possibilities in a polarised world: 21-24 July 2026. Poznan: EASA.https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easa2026/paper/99730. >

Slovenc Grasselli, Mateja. 2026. „Thinking landscapes of support through the interpretative frameworks of wellbeings and moral economy“. 3rd International Symposium on Work in Agriculture – ISWA at BFH-HAFL, Zollikofen: July 7-10: Addressing Current and Future challenges of work in agriculture: research, policy and practice. 3rd International Symposium on Work in Agriculture – ISWA at BFH-HAFL, Zollikofen: July 7-10: Addressing Current and Future challenges of work in agriculture: research, policy and practice. Zollikofen: [s. n.].https://iswa2026.symposium.inrae.fr/content/download/448/3990?version=2. >

Research data publication

The research data will be (pseudo)anonymised and published in a trustworthy repository in accordance with FAIR principles.

Societal impact

The interim and final results of the project will be presented to experts, the public, decision-makers, and students at various educational levels, thereby contributing to a better understanding of support networks and wellbeings in farming.


Research Project

Keywords
interdisciplinary studies
moral economy
mental health care
farmers
migrants
Slovenia

Research Fields
Sociology S210
Cultural anthropology, ethnology S220
Psychology S260