According to the Public Health Agency (PHA), the farming community is particularly susceptible to poor health and well-being, partly driven by the wide variety of demands impacting farmers across a range of social and economic factors.
Farmers often work long and anti-social hours, which can lead to social isolation and often difficulty accessing traditional healthcare services.
This led the PHA to set up the Farm Families Health Checks programme, which offers a service for farmers and their families to access health checks from a portable clinic and local community settings.
Kilrea Livestock mart in Co. Derry hosted a Farm Family Health Check event during their livestock sale earlier this week, allowing farmers attending the mart to pop in for a quick health screening.
According to a Kilrea mart staff member, the event happens three or four times a year at the market and even mart staff members have availed of the service.
The Farm Family Health Check project consists of a mobile unit, which travels to local markets and community events across NI.
The facility offers on-the-spot health checks consisting of blood pressure monitoring, body mass index, cholesterol check, and diabetic screening.
In addition, individual lifestyle advice is also given on a range of health issues, and onward referral to local support services provided as required.
Farmers’ health
The latest Health and Safety Executive (HSE) statistics for the UK, published in 2024, estimated that 10,000 workers in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry suffer from work-related ill health.
Of these 10,000 workers, 60% were suffering from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder, according to the HSE.
The executive reported that another condition commonly associated with agriculture is ‘farmers’ lung’.
This illness is a common form of ‘allergic alveolitis’ which is caused by the inhalation of dust or spores rising from mouldy hay, grain, and straw.
The report highlighted that in the period from 1993 to 2023, there have been on average seven deaths per year where farmers’ lung (or a similar condition) was recorded as the underlying cause of death.
The HSE also reported occupational asthma, skin disease, and occupational cancer as other conditions associated with agriculture.
