The Impact of New Zealand's Good Farmer Identity on Agricultural Student's Mental Health Help‐Seeking Behaviours

OBJECTIVE: The good farmer typology is embedded in New Zealand (NZ) farmer culture as a resilient farmer persevering through tough times without needing help or support from others. This article explores how NZ's good farmer typology influences the mental health help-seeking behaviours of agricultural university students. SETTING: This research took place at the two primary land-based universities in New Zealand. PARTICIPANTS: Fifteen university students who had recently completed a young farmer mental health education programme participated in this study. DESIGN: This is a qualitative exploratory study utilising semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. RESULTS: This study finds that the NZ good farmer identity dominates agricultural students' attitudes towards help-seeking activities. Despite students saying that the stoic attitude of older farmers was not as prevalent amongst their generation, this was not evident in their attitudes. CONCLUSION: Students believed it was important to talk about mental health issues, but did not prioritise this for themselves and were reluctant to engage in help-seeking. The research has implications for those delivering mental health and wellbeing messages and support to young people studying agriculture. It suggests that there is still work to do to address unhelpful attitudes amongst all generations of farmers to break down barriers to mental health education and help-seeking.