Wellbeing campaign for Mayo farmers to receive funding
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon has today announced the awarding of €1.18 million in funding to 46 farm safety, health and wellbeing projects.
Mayo North-East LEADER Partnership Company TA Mayo North-East, based in Foxford, will receive funding of €33,350 for their project titled ‘Taking Stock’.
The 'Taking Stock' initiative aims to raise awareness and provide practical support on key issues affecting farmers, including cardiovascular health, financial planning, farm succession, and mental wellbeing. Through expert advice, real farmer stories, and access to resources, ‘Taking Stock’ is designed to help farmers make informed decisions that will benefit both themselves and their families.
Minister Heydon said: “I am delighted to make this significant investment which builds on the success of the open call over the last two years in driving improvements in key safety risks on farms and promoting farmer health and wellbeing.”
The funding is being delivered through the Open Call for Farm Safety, Health and Wellbeing Projects which was open to applications earlier this year. This competitive call saw a high volume of applications from across the country.
Welcoming the expansion of the farmer physical and mental health checks to include health behaviour change follow-up conversations, the Minister said: “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.”
Commenting on the delivery of farm safety related training courses under the previous open calls, Minister Heydon said: “With over 400 children aged 14 years of age and older having completed tractor driving safety awareness training, I am pleased with the success of the open calls in 2024 and 2025. This educates young people involved in farming about the risks associated with tractors and machinery and best practices when it comes to the safe operation of tractors and machinery. Also, with livestock second only to tractors and machinery when it comes to fatal incidents on farms, the livestock handling training delivered to over 400 farmers in 2025 will make an important contribution to safety when working with livestock.”
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.
For further information on farm safety visit here.