Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
FAR from being ruggedly fit and healthy outdoor types, Australia's farmers are now much more likely to be diabetic and deaf than their city counterparts.
The switch from old-style horse mustering and paddock work to a reliance on quad bikes and computers is partly to blame.
So, too, is the long drought, during which many farmers reduced stock numbers and shelved cropping. It left them with too much time on their hands, according to National Centre for Farmer Health director Sue Brumby.
The average Australian farmer was now 57, with less than 10 per cent younger than 35; they frequently had poor diets, short on fibre and vegetables and overly rich in red meat, and often did not exercise enough, Ms Brumby said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...rs-deaf-diabetic/story-e6frg6nf-1226314903400
The switch from old-style horse mustering and paddock work to a reliance on quad bikes and computers is partly to blame.
So, too, is the long drought, during which many farmers reduced stock numbers and shelved cropping. It left them with too much time on their hands, according to National Centre for Farmer Health director Sue Brumby.
The average Australian farmer was now 57, with less than 10 per cent younger than 35; they frequently had poor diets, short on fibre and vegetables and overly rich in red meat, and often did not exercise enough, Ms Brumby said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...rs-deaf-diabetic/story-e6frg6nf-1226314903400