Radio 1 farming star says hot weather is adding to mental health struggles

As the sun beats down on another summer day on his fields, Tom Everall knows farming is tough but this year has been one in which he has questioned why he does it.

"You really have to work out with your own head why you're doing it," he admits.

Many people, especially listeners to Radio 1, will know him as "Tom the Young Farmer", a fan of pranks who rose to fame on DJ Greg James' breakfast show.

But today, we are on his farm talking about his day job - and just how difficult farming is getting with climate change thrown on top of everything else, bringing the recent heatwaves.

As we talk in his tractor, he says: "I'm getting sick of saying: 'We'll just try again next year, or if we can just outlast this then maybe next year will be better'."

Everall's blunt summing up of how he feels comes along with a strong love of what he does - living and breathing farming on his fields in Myddle, a small village north of Shrewsbury in Shropshire.

The 27 year-old has worked on his family's farm since he was old enough to and said farmers were "some of the most adaptable people you know", but they were struggling with the ever-changing conditions.

"I wake up every day and think I have a plan of how my day is going to pan out, and then it ends up being nothing like that," he said.

"We haven't had significant rain since May now, and we're approaching August."

In a usual year, he and his family would be getting ready to harvest their wheat but that has already taken place, a move which would normally be "unheard of" before August.

"The dry weather has caused all the crops to ripen so early, and all the grains have just shrivelled up to nothing," he said.

"The quality is way down, the yields are down... we're lucky that we're not just relying on that."

The hot weather is not the only pressure on farmers - the cost of diesel and fertiliser has risen due to the war in Iran and the money the farm received for milk fell at the same time.

"This time last year, we were being paid nearly 45 pence a litre [of milk]," Everall said. "This year we're being paid about 31 at the moment."

Add all those together, along with the long hours and day-to-day farming issues and the 27-year-old knows it is "easy for your head to spiral".

"You really have to work out with your own head why you're doing it," he said, considering his and other farmers' mental health.

"I love it and because it is, and it can be, an incredible way of life - we're very lucky.

"It's definitely been more a year to check in with your mates."

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