Tractor selfies for farmers' mental health after Northamptonshire suicide
- Published
The tractor selfie craze has hit the USA, Canada and Australia, the campaign organiser said
Hundreds of people have been posing for selfies with tractors on social media to help raise awareness of mental health issues in the farming community.
The #tractorselfie4rob campaign was started in memory of Northamptonshire farmer Rob Chapman, 29, from Thurning, who killed himself last year.
Farmers as far away as Australia, the USA and Canada have joined in.
Money is being raised for the Papyrus charity, which campaigns to stop young people from taking their own lives.
The selfie campaign was the brainchild of Mr Chapman's friend Alex Paske, from Stamford in Lincolnshire, who described him as a man who "loved life and loved his farming".
The campaign is intended to raise awareness of mental illness within the farming industry
This campaign is about "how to deal with depression if you do suffer from it... and remove the stigma that seems to exist, particularly within the farming industry," she said.
"There are lots of mental health issues within the industry for a variety of reasons, including isolation and spending long hours alone with your thoughts."
'Gathering momentum'
The tractor selfies are also intended to raise awareness of two fundraising fun runs taking place in December in aid of Papyrus.
More than 550 people have joined in and donated to a Just Giving page raising more than £3,000 so far.
"It's gathering momentum that we weren't expecting at all," Miss Paske said.
Those who do not have a tractor to hand "have been very creative".
They have been posing with toy tractors, tractor garden ornaments, curtains covered in tractors and pictures on computer screens.
Miss Paske hopes people will take selfies, nominate others and donate £1 for each nomination.
She added: "We hope to raise awareness of mental health within the farming community as well as keep Rob's memory alive with his greatest love at the forefront of it all - tractors."