Laois farmers set to get help with health harvest

Harvest of Health is a new programme for the farming community in Laois centred on safety, health and wellbeing.

Laois County Council confirmed to the Leinster Express / Laois Live that it will partner with Laois Sports Partnership under the local authority’s Healthy Laois Programme.

The council said the project would feature an eight-week multimodal physical activity and health education programme for middle-aged and older adults with the aim of improving farmers' physical and mental health.

The health checks, which will be carried out by a clinic team at various locations, will include:

- Hearing test

- Eye tests

- Blood pressure

- Glucose assessment

- Cardiovascular assessment

The Laois Local Community Safety Partnership will be rolling out safety checks and supporting materials.

The Department of Agriculture will invest €25,440 in the project, which is one of 46 farm safety, health and wellbeing initiatives across Ireland to receive a share of €1.18 million announced recently by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon in May.

The Shanahoe-based national Embrace FARM support organisation based in Shanahoe was awarded €35,000 for its Rural Roots Programme.

Ballinakill-based Alex Caraffi is getting €11,000 for Farm Stronger Series €11,000.

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The IFA is the biggest beneficiary of the fund.

It has been allocated €264,336 for the continuation of its Farmer Health Checks Programme.

The Department said the funding is being delivered through the Open Call for Farm Safety, Health and Wellbeing Projects, which was open to applications earlier this year. It said this competitive call saw a high volume of applications from across the country.

The projects are being funded from the Department’s dedicated farm safety budget. Successful projects under the call cover one or more of the following themes: farm safety, farmers’ physical health, farmers’ mental health and wellbeing, farmers’ physical and mental health checks, vision checks, supporting older farmers, tractor driving safety awareness training for children 14 years of age and older, chainsaw training for farmers and working at height for farmers.

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Minister Martin Heydon welcomed the expansion of the farmer physical and mental health checks to include health behaviour change follow-up conversations. MORE BELOW PHOTO.

“The farmer physical and mental health checks have proven to be very successful over the past two years with over 5,700 farmer health checks completed since August 2024. This year, to ensure farmers maximise the benefits of their health checks, I am funding behaviour change follow-up conversations facilitated by health professionals.

“Where appropriate, farmers who avail of health checks will be offered tailored follow-up supports to encourage them to take the appropriate steps to protect their health,” he said.

For further information on farm safety visit: www.gov.ie/farmsafety