As part of Agworld’s social responsibility strategy, a variety of agriculture related charities and organisations receive sponsorship funds each year. In order to spread the money as well as possible, new charities and organisations are chosen each year. For 2020, the decision was made to sponsor ‘Fat Farmers’, among others, a rural health initiative based in South Australia.

Founder (& farmer) Ben Wundersitz, together with a group of other farmers, recognised that they had to get more active as farm work alone was not providing them with enough exercise to stay healthy. Ben: “In 2010 we started exercising in the local gym and then, as a team, participated in the annual City-Bay fun run from Adelaide to Glenelg.”

“In 2015 the initiative spread outside the Yorke Peninsula and we connected with other farmers in South Australia. Fast forward to 2020 and there are now Fat Farmer groups throughout South Australia and a variety of people from rural areas partake in a range of exercise programs each week.”

“When we started, I had this idea of getting blokes more active and healthy physically, while exercising together also connects people which has a positive effect on mental health as well. The idea started with just guys like myself, but it’s great to see that we now have many women and children involved as well and many groups are mixed sex with people of many different age groups participating. It’s great to see the Fat Farmers initiative spreading throughout South Australia, thanks to all the coordinators, participants and a list of sponsors like Agworld.”

Agworld is passionate about the mental and physical health of rural populations and the resilience this builds in local communities. Rural people and enterprises tend to face a disproportionate number of adverse events compared to a city-based population, due to the reliance on a relatively small number of sectors for employment and the harsh effects of commodity prices, weather events and other factors on these sectors.

Agworld Account Manager Graham Morgan, based in Adelaide, SA, adds: “In my role as Account Manager for Agworld I constantly engage with growers, agronomists and other agricultural service providers in rural areas. Having lived in rural areas myself for a large part of my life, I know how difficult things can get sometimes and how important physical and mental health are for the whole community.”

“I’m proud that Agworld sponsors a variety of initiatives each year, from health-focused charities like Fat Farmers to agricultural student organisations or networking clubs for young people in rural areas and many others. For an organisation like Agworld which relies on rural communities as its clients, it’s natural to give back when the opportunity arises.”

To learn more about Ben Wundersitz’s farming operation, see the Anna Binna case study.

For more information about Fat Farmers, contact Sally Fisher at info@fatfarmers.com.