From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
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Minister of State Heydon announces successful farm health, safety and wellbeing projects under the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) initiative
The Minister of State with responsibility for Farm Safety at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, T.D., today announced the successful proposals under Phase 2 of the European Innovation Partnerships (EIP).
The projects will focus on addressing challenges around farm health, safety and well-being.
Making the announcement about the winning projects Minister of State Heydon said
“One of my priorities is the health, safety and wellbeing of our farmers, and therefore I am delighted to announce 8 successful projects moving to full implementation this week to coincide with Farm Safety week. I am confident that the successful projects selected will be of significant benefit in the area of farmer health, safety and well-being. ”
The initial budget of €1m has been increased to €1.8m to ensure the maximum number of proposals possible could move to full implementation.
“Securing this extra funding underlines my commitment as Minister with responsibility for farm safety, and my Department’s commitment to achieving positive change in this area,” Minister Heydon said.
The successful projects were selected following an Open Call for proposals under the European Innovation Partnerships Initiative (EIP). The successful applicants will work closely with a large cohort of farmers to co-develop comprehensive pilot schemes, which will identify and implement innovative ways to change behaviour and attitudes in this vital area.
Minister Heydon concluded by saying,
“These successful projects will pilot innovative approaches to farm health, safety and wellbeing and encourage a change in behaviour from the bottom up in relation to farm safety”
Details of the successful proposals are set out in the table below
|Project Title |General Description
| F.A.R.M. Connect | The Fitness, Awareness, Resilience, Meitheal (F.A.R.M) Connect Initiative will work with farmers in Roscommon and Waterford to train the farmers on physical health, mental health and wellbeing. |
| Farm Family CPD (Online) | The Farm Family Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Online will develop an online Health and Safety training programme to positively change people’s behaviour to mitigate risks which exist on family farms. |
| Béal Átha na Muice Project | The Béal Átha na Muice Project will work with farmers in Mayo to explore the mental challenges and strains associated with the process of farm succession and to provide supports to help the farm family to address these challenges. |
| An Meitheal Feirme Project | This project will provide farm families affected by sudden fatalities and traumas on farms with support and guidance in the aftermath of such an event to help the family deal with such challenges. |
| Farmers Inspiring Farmers to be Safe | The Farmers Inspiring Farmers to be Safe project will adopt a pilot ‘peer-to-peer’ mentoring and champion approach to engage farmers in an attitudinal and behavioural change towards farm safety by tackling social norms around farm safety by establishing a network of trained farm mentors in counties with significant farm fatality rates i.e. Cork, Tipperary and Wexford. |
| Safe Farm | The Safe Farm project will develop, deliver, assess and evaluate a bespoke farm safety farmer training programme using a bottom up, participatory approach. Initially a pilot of 200 farmers will take part in the Safe Farm programme, with the aim of establishing an accredited industry standard training programme. |
| Eco-T | The Eco- T project - a Collaborative Response to Farmer Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and Wellness aim to promote positive mental health in the farming community through a series of facilitated eco therapy, adventure therapy, Peer to Peer Support and Stress Management Programmes. |
| Sláinte agus Beatha Feirmoirí Conamara (SBFC) | The SBFC project is aimed at promoting and enhancing on-farm health and safety at a local level on farms across the Connemara Region. This will be achieved through a series of tools including risk assessments, training programmes, radio shows and active presence in schools across the region. |
Note for Editors
The EIP initiative is co-funded by the EU Commission and the Irish Government as part of Ireland’s Rural Development Programme. Essentially, the EIP initiative involves a range of stakeholders (farmers, advisors, researchers, NGOs etc) coming together in what are termed ‘Operational Groups’ to trial innovative solutions that the Group themselves have developed. There is a wide range of EIP Operational Groups already in existence under Irelands RDP, but this is the first call for proposals which specifically targets farm health, safety and wellbeing.
In Stage 1 , Groups are required to provide outline details of their proposal and approach. This is the stage now being launched, with a closing date of 29 January 2021. These short proposals are assessed by an expert committee, and those proposals successfully selected at Stage 1 move to Stage 2
In Stage 2 , the initial proposals are developed in much greater detail and each proposal must submit a detailed project plan at this stage – the development of these plans is funded under the EIP initiative. All these detailed project plans are again assessed by an expert committee, with successful projects moving to full implementation. Implementation of projects is also funded under the EIP initiative.
Information on the European Innovation Partnership initiative can be accessed on the Department website at DAFM - European Innovation Partnership or by contacting eip@agriculture.gov.ie