Farmlands Backs Rural Wellbeing

Getting mental health support in rural New Zealand has never been simple — distance, cost, and time off the farm all get in the way. Farmlands — in partnership with ignite Aotearoa and Rural Support Trust — set out to change that.

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New Zealand's largest farmer-owned co-operative, Farmlands teamed up with the Rural Support Trust and Christchurch wellbeing platform ignite to launch a free online counselling and wellbeing service for farmers, growers and their whānau — part of its Rural Never Rests campaign. The three-year partnership funds more than 1,500 sessions, delivered through ignite's platform.

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ignite brought in Payper to launch the partnership at Fieldays. We built the rollout around Fieldays week and the Rural Industry Leaders Dinner, shaping the story for rural-trade and mainstream newsrooms alike.

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The story ran 10 times, every one positive. TVNZ Breakfast covered it live to a national morning audience, and the NZ Herald ran it twice — online through The Country and on Herald NOW. On Newstalk ZB's The Country, Farmlands chief executive Tanya Houghton spoke about the partnership as she wrapped Fieldays week.

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Rural media carried it the rest of the way, with Farmers Weekly, Chris Lynch Media, the Rural Guardian and Mediaworks Radio all running the news.

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Across those 10 stories, the launch reached an estimated 679,000 New Zealanders — five of them in the country's highest-reach Tier 1 outlets.

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For a service built to reach people who too often go without, the launch did just that — putting Farmlands' free support in front of the communities that need it most.