SOUTH-WEST residents are living up to five years less than their Melbourne counterparts, a leading regional health professional has revealed.Dean of Deakin University's medical school, professor John Catford, painted the grim picture for country Victorians at the launch of the National Centre for Farmer Health in Hamilton yesterday.He said the stereotype of a farmer being healthy, fit and energetic was wrong."People living in rural areas are expected to live five years shorter than those in metropolitan areas and in the farming community it is much graver than that," professor Catford said.His comments came after a new report revealed extended drought conditions had severely impacted the mental health of farmers and their partners.The Australian Institute of Family Studies survey showed drought-affected farmers were unlikely to turn to alcohol to combat their problems, using antidepressants instead.Premier John Brumby opened the $3.4 million farmers' health centre and said the facility would help close the life expectancy gap between rural and urban areas.Mr Brumby said an ageing farmer population and reluctance to seek preventative medical help fuelled the rural health crisis."The health of the rural workforce is poorer than those living in cities," he said."We have created a national centre for farmers, which is a landmark for Victoria's agricultural history and the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere."The centre was the brainchild of Mr Brumby's sister, associate professor Sue Brumby. The Premier welcomed her at the launch, held at Western District Health Service's Hamilton hospital, with a gentle kiss on the cheek."Hello, you must be Sue Brumby," he joked.The State Government gave $2.4 million to the centre, which aimed to improve farmers' health through a variety of programs.Agriculture Minister Joe Helper said all Australians deserved access to the same medical treatment.He said ongoing drought conditions and tumbling milk prices took their toll on farmers' health."Farmers in particular have a reluctance to consult a medical practitioner when they have something niggling them," Mr Helper said. "They seem to dismiss it as just aches and pains and don't worry about it."Where the National Centre for Farmer Health will help is it will focus on early identification of diseases and preventative health measures."Mr Helper said the Government was doing its "darndest" to narrow the rural/urban life expectancy gap.He said farmers were often more susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular disease."There are a number of contributing factors which have caused the gap. But I am confident that through the National Centre for Farmer Health we will be able to change that."The facility received $1 million from the Helen and Geoff Handbury Trust. Dr Handbury said he became interested in rural health 15 years ago.He attended a men's health lecture in Balmoral, where 90 per cent of the audience said they hadn't needed to see a doctor because "they weren't crook"."I immediately realised there was no thought of preventative health measures," Dr Handbury said.He said farming had changed dramatically in the past 30 years, with a shift from manual to automated labour."When I first started farming in the '70s we used to get out and dig a fence post hole with a crow bar, now you have post hole drivers."We didn't even have a motorbike, everything was done on horseback and if you want to reduce your tummy, try riding a horse."All this has had an impact on farmers' health."The facility was born from the Sustainable Farm Families program - a trial project which delivered health workshops about a range of topics to selected groups of farmers.About 100 attended the centre's opening. It will focus on professional training and education, applied research and development and agriculture safety programs.