RABI welcomed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Emma Reynolds, DEFRA Permanent Secretary Paul Kissack and Farming Minister Stephen Morgan to its stand at the Great Yorkshire Show, where they learned more about FarmersAid and discussed the wider health and wellbeing challenges facing farming people.
During the visit, Secretary of State Emma Reynolds took on RABI’s Tourniquet Challenge, testing how quickly she could apply a tourniquet to help control a catastrophic bleed. The challenge highlights the importance of acting quickly to stop major bleeding following a serious on-farm accident.
The Secretary of State also met with RABI Chief Executive Alicia Chivers and Director of Services Caron Whaley to discuss the challenges facing farming people. Conversations covered the links between farm profitability and wellbeing, RABI’s growing programme of wellbeing research, the barriers that prevent people from accessing support and healthcare, and the importance of collaboration across government to improve outcomes for rural communities.
DEFRA Permanent Secretary Paul Kissack met with RABI’s Head of External Affairs, Sandy Kapila, to discuss opportunities for closer collaboration between government and the farming sector, and the importance of ensuring the needs of farming people are reflected across policy development.
Meanwhile, Farming Minister Stephen Morgan met with Lucy Saker, RABI’s Head of Business Development, who demonstrated the FarmersAid First Response Test. The interactive activity challenges participants to think about how they would respond in the first crucial moments following a serious on-farm accident before demonstrating how the free FarmersAid app provides clear, step-by-step guidance during an emergency.
The discussions also explored the importance of understanding why farming people often delay seeking support, recognising that effective solutions must address the barriers people face as well as the services available to them.
The visit formed part of RABI’s wider engagement programme at the Great Yorkshire Show, providing an opportunity to share the charity’s frontline insight, research and practical initiatives that are helping improve the health, wellbeing and safety of farming people.
