What started as three ‘fat farmers’ heading to the gym in Maitland has grown into one of South Australia’s most powerful rural health movements.
Fat Farmers: Rural Health Initiative now brings nearly 1000 people together every week across the state and beyond. That growth has been driven by the generosity of communities, volunteers, sponsors and donors who believed in a simple idea — connection saves lives.
Founded in 2012, Fat Farmers began when a small group of Yorke Peninsula farmers realised their health was slipping since they stopped playing footy. They were less active, more isolated, and, as their wives said, “they were starting to snore”. What happened next changed not only their lives, but the lives of thousands of others.
“What we quickly realised was that the physical impact of going to the gym was important but the mental health benefits and community connection were just as powerful,” says Richard Sheppy, the organisation’s CEO.
The founding farmers started organising BBQs on the footpath outside the gym to encourage other blokes to come along. At the time, especially in regional South Australia, it was virtually unheard of for blokes to be going to the gym — 99 percent of the Maitland gym’s clients were female.
However, Fat Farmers was about more than fitness. It was about breaking down isolation in rural communities, creating safe and welcoming spaces, and giving people permission to show up for each other. As farms grew bigger and people more spread out, those simple weekly gatherings became a lifeline.
Today, Fat Farmers supports more than 80 community groups nationally, with 40 across South Australia alone. That growth, Richard is clear, would not have been possible without giving.
“These days, head to the Maitland gym early on a Monday or Friday morning, and you’ll find a room full of farmers being put through their paces,” Richard says.
