Characteristics of farmers
| Characteristic | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| Sex | ||
| Male | 304 | 71.5 |
| Female | 121 | 28.5 |
| Working status | ||
| Full time | 276 | 65.0 |
| Part time | 102 | 24.0 |
| Retired | 38 | 8.9 |
| Unemployed/seeking work | 9 | 2.1 |
| Years in current job | ||
| <1 | 4 | 1.1 |
| 1–5 | 14 | 3.7 |
| 6–10 | 42 | 11.1 |
| 11–15 | 62 | 16.4 |
| 16+ | 256 | 67.7 |
| Type of job | ||
| Principal farmer/partner | 280 | 74.1 |
| Spouse of principal farmer/partner | 54 | 14.3 |
| Salaried manager | 2 | 0.5 |
| Other family worker | 18 | 4.8 |
| Regular hired worker | 15 | 4.0 |
| Season/casual worker | 2 | 0.5 |
| Other | 7 | 1.8 |
| Farm type | ||
| Arable | 61 | 14.5 |
| Livestock | 181 | 43.1 |
| Mixed | 146 | 34.8 |
| Other | 32 | 7.6 |
| Size of farm (hectares) | ||
| <2 | 8 | 2.1 |
| 2–10 | 28 | 7.4 |
| 10–20 | 27 | 7.1 |
| 20–30 | 37 | 9.8 |
| 30–50 | 52 | 13.8 |
| 50–100 | 110 | 29.1 |
| 100–200 | 84 | 22.2 |
| 200–500 | 27 | 7.2 |
| 500+ | 5 | 1.3 |
| Financial situation | ||
| Comfortable | 68 | 16.0 |
| Doing all right | 134 | 31.5 |
| Getting by | 181 | 42.6 |
| Quite difficult | 33 | 7.8 |
| Very difficult | 9 | 2.1 |
| Outstanding debt unable to be met | 59 | 13.9 |
| Serious illness/injury in past 6 months | 44 | 10.3 |
| Longstanding illness | 128 | 30.1 |
| Family history of psychiatric illness | 51 | 12.0 |