The Farmers4Safety – Managing Risk Together EIP AGRI Project conference held yesterday (Thursday, March 2) aimed to highlight the power of a peer-to-peer mentor approach to farm safety and emotional well-being.
The conference, which took place in the Talbot Hotel in Clonmel, was another example of Farmers4Safety’s “tremendous job” in engaging farmers with these topics, according to Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Martin Heydon.
Speaking at the conference, Heydon said he was interested in how the Farmers4Safety EIP tackled the challenge of engaging with farmers, their families and the community through “a range of activities from peer-to-peer mentoring and attendance at shows, to a sticker competition to involve children”.
“It is encouraging to see that participation in the EIP (European Innovation Partnership) raised awareness of health and safety and mental well-being, and in particular that farmers were significantly less likely to take risks that they would not allow others to take,” he said.
“In its ‘peer-to-peer’ mentoring and champion approach in engaging farmers and tackling the social norms around farm safety and emotional well-being, it is clear that the Farmer4Safety project had a clear vision of its objectives from the outset.”
The year-long project concerning the tackling and improving of social norms around farm safety and emotional well-being was funded by EIP AGRI and was carried out by Irish Rural Link (IRL).
Well-being
The aim of the conference was, and the wider initiative is, to allow farmers and farm families to create a co-learning environment and a buddy system to enable them to work together and ask for help when they need it, Farmers4Safety explained.
Project manager Niamh Nolan said Farmers4Saftey offers a peer-to-peer mentor approach that tailors to each farming community and offers support, assistance and guidance.
“It also allows farmers to transfer knowledge and ideas with each other, build on their networks along with making the farm a safer and healthier place to live, work and visit,” she said.
“This effective bottom-up approach has proven to be successful in the three regions and from the results and comments from the participants involved in the project they have found it very beneficial to them in addressing farm safety, health and well-being.”
Speaking on the benefits of bringing a farm mentor to a farmer’s yards, Tipperary mentor Mary Oakley said it makes farmers more open to the programme as “they are much more comfortable in their own yards and also most of them don’t have the time to attend events”.
“I think they are under so much pressure and always caught for time. By bringing information to them such as the risk assessment documents, we made it easier for them to access information,” she said.
“Improving farm safety, health and well-being is challenging and requires perseverance and determination to achieve long-term results,” Minister Heydon added.
“The farmer is the farm’s greatest asset, and we need to see a change in mindset across the whole sector that puts safety and well-being first.”