One man’s mission to empower others
WELLBEING: A rural communicator is adamant that resilience boils down to one thing — community support
Popular rural communicator Craig “Wiggy” Wiggins knows a thing or two about coping with the ups and downs of farming. He’s the driving force behind a host of initiatives designed to boost the resilience of his local Canterbury community, including Whatever With Wiggy, Lean on a Gate and Talk to a Mate and Agriconnect.
He’s also a familiar rural voice thanks to several decades of calling rodeos and jet sprints, emceeing events and advocating on behalf of farmers.
“I come from a grassroots level really, dealing with farmers in an individual space and also empowering the community as much as I can,” he told The Country’s, Jamie Mackay.
His commitment to connecting was recognised at last year’s Fieldays where he was named 2021 Rural Communicator of the Year.
This is an honour he has held on to for almost 18 months now, thanks to Covid-19 disruptions postponing Fieldays to November this year.
Wiggins said he was ready to pass on the title at Mystery Creek next month and was looking forward to finding out who the recipient would be.
He was also recently approached by rural wellbeing programme Farmstrong, for an interview on what makes him tick.
Wiggins said his work was a natural fit with Farmstrong, especially when it came to connecting with people feeling isolated in remote areas.
“We’re [both] in, I would say, the trenches basically, getting stuck in to pick out those ones that are really remote and might not come to a Farmstrong evening or Farmstrong event.”
One way Whatever with Wiggy or Agriconnect got in touch with these isolated farmers was through service industry personnel, such as stock agents, bank managers, agronomists, accountants and vets, he said.
“A lot of them were saying, we’re seeing so much out there and we’re not trained to deal with it, or we don’t know what to do with our clients when they do come out and invest in us because we have that model of trust with them.
“Agriconnect was something that we started up where we get the service industries to know what’s available to support their clients and their colleagues in each area.”
Wiggins was “really happy” that Farmstrong recognised Agiconnect and “came on board to help me out”.
Through Agriconnect, he found that it wasn’t just those in the service industry who noticed when someone needed a helping hand.
“Sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, grandparents — they also see this — as well as the partners.”
Mental wellbeing wasn’t genderspecific either, Wiggins said.
“Women … carry a huge burden of their own. There’s also stuff that affects them.”
Wiggins was also a board of trustee chair at his local school, where he saw the effects of stress passed on to the younger generation. “A lot of the schools are talking about the flow-on effects coming down through to our children as well.”
Therefore it was more important than ever to keep communication open when it came to mental wellbeing, not just for individuals but the whole community, he said.
“So it’s a big thing that we’re talking about here and once again that’s why I go back to — strong people make strong communities, strong communities make strong people.
“That’s the whole genre that I try to work in — empowering communities to look after themselves and recognise those signs.” ■
— Content facilitated by Farmstrong
That’s why I go back to — strong people make strong communities, strong communities make strong people. — Craig ‘Wiggy’ Wiggins