The value of peer-to-peer mentoring will be showcased at the Farmers4Safety – Managing Risk Together EIP AGRI project conference which will be officially opened by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, on March 2.
The conference, which will take place in the Talbot Hotel in Clonmel at 10:30a.m, will highlight the importance of meaningful collaboration when tackling and improving the social norms around farm safety and emotional well-being.
The year-long pilot initiative, funded by EIP-AGRI, now finishing up, was carried out by Irish Rural Link (IRL) in partnership with the BRIDE (Biodiversity Regeneration in a Dairying Environment) project; the Duncannon Blue Flag Farming and Communities Scheme; the New Futures Farming Group; and the Health and Safety Authority.
Minister Heydon, who has special responsibility for farm safety, said that the eight farm safety EIPs funded across the country were tasked with devising innovative ways to keep farmers and their families safe and to improve well-being on farms.
“Farmers4Safety has done a tremendous job in engaging farmers with these topics and empowering them to work with their peers to identify and reduce risks on farms,” he said.
“I am a firm believer that the most powerful actors we have to influence a change in health and safety culture on farms are farmers themselves.
“I look forward to meeting with the community that has been forged through this project and to hearing what they have learned.
“Farmers and farm families are all accustomed to their own farmyards and by adopting a peer-to-peer mentoring approach with farming communities in the catchment areas, it helps farmers and farm families to identify the risks on their farms and ways to mitigate these risks and hazards,” the minister said.
“The Farm Safety, Health and Wellbeing EIP-AGRI project allowed farmers and farm families to take the journey together by creating a co-learning environment and a buddy system with people working together and asking a peer for assistance when needed,” Minister Heydon added.
“It allowed for that one-to-one conversation to take place between the mentor and the farmer or farm family,” he said.
Peer-to-peer mentoring
Mary Oakley, Tipperary mentor, recalled her experience as a farm mentor within the Farm Safety, Health and Wellbeing EIP-AGRI project
“I absolutely loved this role from the very start and I see the value in going out to the farms and speaking to them one-to-one,” she said.
“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.”
Niamh Nolan, project manager, said that Farmers4Safety offers a peer-to-peer mentor approach that tailors to each farming community within the catchment areas, offering 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.
“Farmers4Safety – Managing Risk Together EIP AGRI Project positively impacted farmers and farm families as it altered their behaviour towards farm safety, health and well-being.
“We hope that these changes in attitudes and behaviours will influence this generation of farmers and the next by embedding farm safety and emotional well-being within their daily routine on the farm,” Niamh said.
Registration for the conference is open and those interested in attending can register through Eventbrite.