This is the final episode of the first season of Good People to Know. We would be very interested in your thoughts on the first season and would love to know what other topics or initiatives you would like to see in the future. Please click here to share your thoughts.

In today's episode Andrew continues his conversation with Scott Hammond, CEO Lifeline Broken Hill Country to Coast about mental health and the unique challenges faced by Regional Australians.

During this second part of the conversation they discuss the role of social media, the pressures faced by the farming community, the under-resourcing of mental health support services and how people can care for the mental health of themselves and others.

This episode contains discussion of mental health, suicide and suicidal ideation, which some people might find disturbing. If you or someone you know is suicidal, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or use their text service on 0477 13 11 14.

Mental health support is available at the below links:

• Lifeline Broken Hill Country to Coast - https://www.llbhc2c.org.au/

• Lifeline Australia - https://www.lifeline.org.au/resources/

• Chat service - https://www.lifeline.org.au/crisis-chat/

• 13 YARN (13 92 76) - https://www.13yarn.org.au/ - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crisis support line

Roughly one in five Australians will experience a mental health condition at some point in their lives – a statistic that’s true for the city and the bush. But it has been suggested that mental health conditions in Regional Australia are under reported and to make matters worse, the age-standardised suicide rate is 60% higher in regional areas compared with capital cities, with the rate increasing with remoteness.

To chat about this important topic Andrew is joined by Scott Hammond, CEO Lifeline Broken Hill Country to Coast. With over 20 years’ experience and managing an area of over 1.2 million km across NSW and SA, Scott lends his important insights to a conversation that will open your mind to an issue that is seldom discussed.

With so much to discuss this conversation will be released in two parts, with part two being released next week.

This episode contains discussion of mental health, suicide and suicidal ideation, which some people might find disturbing. If you or someone you know is suicidal, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or use their text service on 0477 13 11 14.

Mental health support is available at the below links:

Lifeline Broken Hill Country to Coast - https://www.llbhc2c.org.au/

Lifeline Australia - https://www.lifeline.org.au/resources/

Chat service - https://www.lifeline.org.au/crisis-chat/

13 YARN (13 92 76) - https://www.13yarn.org.au/ - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crisis support line

Australian farms consistently top the list of most unsafe workplaces in Australia, with roughly one in six people killed on the job in Australia working on a farm.

Andrew chats with John Darcy from the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) about how we address safety on Australian farms.

Free safety materials are available to farmers Australia-wide by visiting makingourfarmssafer.org.au.

Traditionally farms get passed on from generation to generation, but with many farmers not having children to pass their farm onto, the average Australian farmer is now in their 50s leading to economic and social challenges for agricultural communities.

This week Andrew is joined by Cultivate Farms CEO, Sam Marwood to talk to about how we keep more older farmers on the land, bring new families onto farms and revitalise regional communities through investment.

You can find out more by visiting Cultivate Farms.

The development and adoption of new technology on farms is touted is one of the key drivers in the National Farmers Federation’s 2030 Roadmap.

To demonstrate the future of farming through robotics and artificial intelligence, as well creating new sustainability and carbon models to drive improvements in farming practice, Charles Sturt University recently launch a ‘digital hands free farm’ in Wagga Wagga.

To tell us more, Andrew is joined again by the projects chief scientist, Professor David Lamb.

In today’s episode Andrew digs into Australia’s emerging carbon economy and what’s in it for farmers with Professor David Lamb - Chief Scientist at Food Agility and Adjunct Professor at University of New England (AU). Working in precision agriculture for more than 25 years and leading more than 40 industry-funded R&D projects, David really is a good person to know.

During the conversation they discuss how farmers can help the fight against climate change by not only reducing their carbon footprint, but also helping to draw carbon out of the atmosphere whilst opening new revenue streams and improving the health of the land.

Technology, social media and the COVID-19 pandemic have opened up new exciting business opportunities for regional small businesswomen. To find out more our host Andrew Beer, EGM WFI, sat down with Carrie Kwan from Mums & Co and Edwina Sharrock from Birth Beat to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities regional businesswomen face and how female entrepreneurs can help address real-world issues in the regions.

Both Carrie and Edwina show how living regionally is no barrier to running a successful business and how, in the case of Edwina, female entrepeneurship has helped overcome the barrier of distance in accessing quality pregnancy and childbirth education in the regions.

To find out more about Mums & Co visit https://www.mumsandco.com.au

To find out more about Birth Beat visit https://birthbeat.com

In part two of Andrew's conversation with National Farmers Federation President, Fiona Simson, they discuss some of the risks to the NFF's 2030 Roadmap.

How will the industry find the investment they need to adapt to changing technology and become more sustainable? What does volatile international trade mean? And how does insurance help mitigate risk in an industry where a years income can be lost in a day?

The agricultural industry is an exciting place to be at the moment - advances in technology and preferable weather conditions have led to much optimism in the sector.

In the first of two episodes, Andrew is joined by National Farmers Federation President, Fiona Simson, about their 2030 roadmap for the Australian agricultural industry to reach $100b in farmgate output and the role of sustainability, climate and technology.

Biosecurity, extreme weather, trade, climate, changes in technology… there is a lot on the minds of our Aussie farmers at the moment.

To discuss this and more our host, Andrew Beer, spoke with NSW Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW Dugald Saunders.