IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i5p4117-d1080149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Destructive Effects of Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles on Farmer Well-Being: Mental Health Consequences Outweigh Economic Losses

Author

Listed:
  • Moshe Gish

    (Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel)

  • Aya Shalmon

    (Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel)

  • Ofira Ayalon

    (Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel)

Abstract

In many countries, the use of recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs) occasionally spills over into agricultural lands. The conflict between ROV users and farmers is escalating due to the growing popularity of ROVs. Determined action of authorities for mitigating the phenomenon may necessitate an understanding of the nature and extent of the actual damage caused by ROVs. However, it is currently unknown how ROVs harm agriculture and what is their main deleterious effect on farmers. We tested our hypothesis that economic costs are the leading reason for farmer distress using in-depth interviews with 46 Israeli farmers that are affected by ROVs. We found that contrary to our hypothesis, economic costs were low and negligible, despite high levels of anger, distress, or hopelessness expressed by almost all farmers. The main reason for outrage and frustration was the emotional impact of ROV activity on the farmers. Therefore, measuring the effects of ROVs on agriculture in terms of economic losses will probably be ineffective in convincing policymakers to act against the reckless use of ROVs in agricultural lands. On the other hand, conveying the emotional implications for the farmers can potentially promote change if accompanied by explanations on the importance of caring for the mental health and well-being of a sector that already suffers from levels of stress and mental health problems that are among the highest of any other industry in the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Moshe Gish & Aya Shalmon & Ofira Ayalon, 2023. "The Destructive Effects of Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles on Farmer Well-Being: Mental Health Consequences Outweigh Economic Losses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:4117-:d:1080149
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4117/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4117/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sahar Daghagh Yazd & Sarah Ann Wheeler & Alec Zuo, 2019. "Key Risk Factors Affecting Farmers’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-23, December.
    2. Ivan C. Hanigan & Timothy B. Chaston, 2022. "Climate Change, Drought and Rural Suicide in New South Wales, Australia: Future Impact Scenario Projections to 2099," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-12, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manel Díaz Llobet & Manel Plana-Farran & Micaela L. Riethmuller & Victor Rodríguez Lizano & Silvia Solé Cases & Mercè Teixidó, 2023. "Mapping the Research into Mental Health in the Farming Environment: A Bibliometric Review from Scopus and WoS Databases," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Jing Hou & Linhai Wu & Bo Hou, 2020. "Risk Attitude, Contract Arrangements and Enforcement in Food Safety Governance: A China’s Agri-Food Supply Chain Scenario," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Brune, Sara & Vilá, Olivia & Knollenberg, Whitney, 2023. "Family farms' resilience under the COVID-19 crisis: Challenges and opportunities with agritourism," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    4. Jie Song & Yaping Cai & Yahong Wang & Salim Khan, 2022. "Health Risk, Income Effect, and the Stability of Farmers’ Poverty Alleviation in Deep Poverty Areas: A Case Study of S-County in Qinba Mountain Area," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-15, November.
    5. Florence Becot & Casper Bendixsen & Kathrine Barnes & Josie Rudolphi, 2021. "Broadening Our Understanding of Farm Children’s Risk Exposure by Considering Their Parents’ Farming Background," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Terasa Younker & Heidi Liss Radunovich, 2021. "Farmer Mental Health Interventions: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-30, December.
    7. Miho Sato & Hiromi Kato & Makiko Noguchi & Hiroshi Ono & Kuniyuki Kobayashi, 2020. "Gender Differences in Depressive Symptoms and Work Environment Factors among Dairy Farmers in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-12, April.
    8. Emelynne Gabrielly de Oliveira Santos & Paulo Roberto Queiroz & Aryelly Dayane da Silva Nunes & Kelly Graziani Giacchero Vedana & Isabelle Ribeiro Barbosa, 2021. "Factors Associated with Suicidal Behavior in Farmers: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    9. Matthew Abunyewah & Mitchell K. Byrne & Carol A. Keane & Daniel Bressington, 2023. "Developing Psychological Resilience to the Impact of Drought," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-11, February.
    10. Grace W. Lee & Kristina Vine & Amba-Rose Atkinson & Michael Tong & Jo Longman & Alexandra Barratt & Ross Bailie & Sotiris Vardoulakis & Veronica Matthews & Kazi Mizanur Rahman, 2023. "Impacts of Climate Change on Health and Health Services in Northern New South Wales, Australia: A Rapid Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-25, July.
    11. Jungsun Park & Hanjun Kim & Yangho Kim, 2021. "Factors Related to Psychological Well-Being as Moderated by Occupational Class in Korean Self-Employed Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-15, December.
    12. Victoria Junquera & Daniel I. Rubenstein & Florian Knaus, 2024. ""How lonely are you?" The role of social contacts and farm characteristics in farmers' self-reported feelings of loneliness, and why it matters," Papers 2407.20136, arXiv.org.
    13. Syadani Riyad Fatema & Leah East & Md Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2021. "Health Impact and Risk Factors Affecting South and Southeast Asian Women Following Natural Disasters: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-17, October.
    14. Alison Kennedy & Catherine Cosgrave & Joanna Macdonald & Kate Gunn & Timo Dietrich & Susan Brumby, 2021. "Translating Co-Design from Face-to-Face to Online: An Australian Primary Producer Project Conducted during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-14, April.
    15. Marita Stier-Jarmer & Cornelia Oberhauser & Dieter Frisch & Götz Berberich & Thomas Loew & Carina Schels-Klemens & Birgit Braun & Angela Schuh, 2020. "A Multimodal Stress-Prevention Program Supplemented by Telephone-Coaching Sessions to Reduce Perceived Stress among German Farmers: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-18, December.
    16. Fadare, Olusegun & Zanello, Giacomo & Srinivasan, Chittur, 2023. "Stressor or succour? Examining the association between conflict, livestock assets, and farmers’ mental health in Nigeria," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    17. Saju Madavanakadu Devassy & Shilpa V. Yohannan & Lorane Scaria & Sunirose Ishnassery Pathrose, 2024. "Tangible to Non-Tangible Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Life Satisfaction of Farmers in Kerala, India," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-13, September.
    18. Bjørnåvold, Amalie & David, Maia & Bohan, David A. & Gibert, Caroline & Rousselle, Jean-Marc & Van Passel, Steven, 2022. "Why does France not meet its pesticide reduction targets? Farmers' socio-economic trade-offs when adopting agro-ecological practices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    19. Danni Feng & Quan Wang & Sufang Huang & Xiaorong Lang & Fengfei Ding & Wei Wang, 2022. "The Effect of Perceived Stress, Family Companionship, and Mental Health on the Subjective Happiness of Chinese Healthcare Workers: A Mixed Research Method," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-17, September.
    20. Briana N. M. Hagen & Alex Sawatzky & Sherilee L. Harper & Terri L. O’Sullivan & Andria Jones-Bitton, 2021. "What Impacts Perceived Stress among Canadian Farmers? A Mixed-Methods Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-14, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:4117-:d:1080149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.