Vegans Raise £6,000 For Farming Mental Health Charity After Running Four Half-Marathons
- veganssupportthefa
- Jul 31
- 2 min read
Vegans Support the Farmers are delighted to have donated £6,000 to The DPJ Foundation, a charity that focuses on improving the mental health of the farming community. [1][2]
The money was raised over the past year thanks to donations from attendees at vegan markets and festivals, as well as sponsorship for the four half-marathons that the team ran in 2024.
£6,000 has been donated by Vegans Support the Farmers to The DPJ Foundation, a farming mental health charity, with the ‘cheque’ handed over at this year's Royal Welsh Show. Donations were collected from vegans at 20 events across last year, including VegFest London, the Scottish Vegan Festival, Vegan Campout, and the Welsh Vegan Festival. Online sponsorships were also gathered as Kerri, Sarah and Tom from the VSF team ran four half-marathons across the four nations of the UK over 2024 to help raise additional funds.
The DPJ Foundation was set up in July 2016 in memory of Daniel Picton-Jones. The charity supports those in the agricultural sector suffering from poor mental health or grieving the suicide of a loved one. Daniel, an agricultural contractor, had mental health problems that went undiagnosed and unseen by many. His widow, Emma, set up the foundation to support the mental health of those in the farming sector and reduce the number of resulting deaths. The charity covers many areas of support, including books for children impacted by the suicide of a loved one. The agricultural industry has one of the highest suicide rates, and according to a survey 95% of farmers under 40 think that mental health is the biggest hidden problem facing farmers. [3]
Sarah Foy, 25, from Vegans Support the Farmers said:
“The events were hard work and the running was exhausting, but knowing that every pound raised would go to supporting our hard-working farmers kept us motivated. We are devastated with the state of mental health within the farming community and are desperate for meaningful improvements to happen."
"When we found out about The DPJ Foundation at the 2024 Royal Welsh Show, we were blown away by the amount of support they provide and the passion within their team. Meeting Emma at the 2025 Oxford Farming Conference and then listening to her share Daniel’s story with everyone was incredibly moving. It gives us so much pleasure to hand over this money and contribute to the vital services they provide.”
The four runs completed were the Great Welsh Half Marathon on 17/3/24, the Edinburgh Half Marathon on 26/5/24, the Newcastle Way Half Marathon on 13/10/24, and the North Yorkshire Half Marathon on 26/10/24. [4]
Vegans Support the Farmers backs farmer-led demands to help address key issues as part of the work towards a safe, just and sustainable food system. The project hopes to break down barriers between vegans and farmers to come to a place of understanding and collaboration. Supporting farming issues and raising money for farmers has helped unite the vegan and farming communities.
ENDS
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For more information or further comments, please contact:
Tom (Press Back Office) on +44 1225 29 6691 or press@veganssupportthefarmers.co.uk
Notes to Editor:
[4] photos from the half-marathons can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-H6NYG6kTso5odqzgB-CvKoyBI_D8Npu
