A new health and safety campaign has allowed agri-commentators to highlight the mental health benefits of farming through to an older age.
A launch event for the new initiative was hosted by Northern Ireland’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Greenmount College in Co. Antrim.
Significantly, health and safety specialists from across the island of Ireland attended the event.
ABP Northern Ireland’s supply chain manager, Liam McCarthy, spoke at the event. He also farms in South Co. Down.
According to McCarthy, older farmers are the bedrock of Ireland’s agricultural industry.
“They have so much to offer,” he further explained.
“It’s hard to put a value on the experiences they have gained, all of which must be passed on to the next generation.
He noted that older farmers are also often “at the very heart of” succession plans put in place in many family farmer businesses.
“In certain instances, it may well be a case of the younger generation having to seek off-farm employment to keep the financial fabric of the business intact for everyone involved,” McCarthy said
“In these circumstances, it is the parents who will carry on with many of the daily routines in order to ensure that a sustainable future can be secured for the farm.”
The ABP representative highlighted that “many farmers want to work on as they get older”.
“At a very fundamental level, they see this as a way of retaining their mental health,” he added.
Health and safety risks
But the ABP representative is also aware of the greater health and safety risks to which farmers become exposed as they get older.
He related an experience of his own, which involved putting iodine spray on the naval of a newborn suckler calf.
McCarthy said: “I thought long and hard before going into the pen with the heifer and the newborn.
“But it was early in the morning, there was a day’s work to be done, so the decision was taken to treat the calf there and then.
“Thankfully, I got in and out without incident. But it could have been so different had the mother decided to take issue with me handling her calf.”
The ABP representative continued: “Yes, I took the risk. But, on reflection, it was the wrong decision to have made.
“My grandchild was born four days later and had circumstances been different, I might not have been around to see the new arrival.”
