Championing farm safety

Irish Rural Link has launched of its new farm safety initiative focused on combatting labour and isolation concerns on Irish farms.

The programme consists of the training of nine regionally spread Farm Safety Community Champions from various backgrounds including farming, teaching, and community mentoring.

These champions will develop networks in their regions to connect farmers to their communities, delivering farm safety and well-being talks at local marts and community centres. To support this, a manual has been created to guide these talks, which will include resources for local individuals to learn more about the programme and the steps they can take to encourage connection with farmers in their society.

To further bolster this initiative, a Farmer’s Haggart will be led by a local Farm Safety Community Champion, and will encourage farmers to assist one another in simple tasks on the farm.

The goal of this is to foster local connections between farmers to further develop rural farming networks, and support community wellbeing.

You can find your local Farm Safety Community Champion and how you can organise a Farmer’s Haggart event within your community on www.farmers4safety.ie