A social-farming research project, backed by the EU, is exploring ways to help more older people to spend time on farms.
FarmElder, which is funded by Eramsus+, is examining how social farming can work as an option for older people, along with developing education and training courses for both host farmers and participants.
The Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) is the overall coordinator of the 24-month project which has partners in Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, Slovenia and Germany.
FarmElder
Padraic O’Reilly, development manager at TUS, said that there are a number of angles to FarmElder.
“It’s a social outlet, it’s physical activity, it’s getting older people out in the world, but also bringing their experiences to the project.
“Some people may have worked, grown up or lived on farms and they have a lot to share with other participants in the social farming sector.
“Our role would be as project coordinators, but then trying to find ways to bring education to the table,” he told Agriland.
“So whether it’s training for the host farmers in a social farming setting, or maybe there’s some level of acknowledgement for work and training that is undertaken by the participants of social farming, be they young or old.
“We’ve been developing specific training content and materials targeted to support host farmers to maybe think more about bringing the elderly onto their farms,” O’Reilly added.
The project will initially focus on people already active in social farming and encourage them to branch out into looking at facilitating older people.
FarmElder is being worked through local development companies and Social Farming Ireland which will match older people with host farms based on their interests and needs.
O’Reilly said that the project provides a way for host farmers to give back to their communities and to people who “don’t have a lot of options available to them”.
“From the participants point of view, there are jobs that can be done [on the host farms] that improve and maintain mobility and cognitive skills but there’s the social aspect, there’s meeting other people and giving people a place to go outside of their own home, which is hugely beneficial.
“The idea that people are spending time out in nature is one of the biggest benefits,” he said.
Social farming
TUS and South Kerry Development Partnership (SKDP), the Irish project partner, recently hosted FarmElder representatives from Europe on a mutual learning visit in Kerry.
Out of 120 social farms across Ireland, there are over 40 based in the county with more than 60 participants.
Chair of the Kerry Social Farming (KSF) working group, Éamon Horgan, emphasised the need for secure and consistent funding to support the initiative.
Around 80 people visited the dairy farm of Michael Joe and Brid Murphy in Kilgarvan to discuss how social farming is operating in Kerry and its potential to expand to assist older people and those living with dementia.
Teagasc advisor Claire McAuliffe, who is a member of the KSF working group, outlined how dairy farms can be ideal venues for social farming as they provide a variety of activities, which change depending on the season.
Anni and Josef Hindelang, who run a social farm at the foothills of the Bavarian Alps in Germany, shared their story through a video about their farm.
Since 2020, they have hosted older people with dementia, their family members and carers on the farm twice a month.
The group visited Breeda and Pat O’Sullivan’s sheep and suckler farm in Glencar, which is a case study in the FarmElder project. The O’Sullivans have hosted social farming since 2017.
They also toured the Kenmare Community Garden, which is being developed as an inclusive space for young and old.
The garden is a case study for FarmElder, focusing on the part played in its development by local resident Denise McClure.
The group heard how the site has progressed from vacant waste ground to what is now a haven of activity with a polytunnel, a large number of raised beds and recently planted native trees and fruit trees.