Written answer
Departmental Funding
2802. Deputy Catherine Callaghan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures his Department is taking to address mental health challenges and social isolation among farmers and farm families; whether he will increase funding for locally based support services, peer-to-peer networks and farm advisory programmes with a mental health and well-being component. [63944/26]
Comment on this
This Government is prioritising farm safety, health and wellbeing. There is a specific focus in the Programme for Government on farmer mental health and wellbeing, recognising the unique challenges faced by the sector.
Utilising dedicated funding of €3 million allocated in Budget 2026, my Department is continuing to implement existing initiatives and develop new initiatives to improve farm safety, health and wellbeing. These include initiatives to help tackle mental health challenges, isolation and loneliness among farmers.
In collaboration with the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive, my Department continues to co-fund ‘On Feirm Ground 2’, a farmers physical and mental health awareness programme.
This year, I awarded funding to 46 farm safety, health and wellbeing projects under an Open Call, over half of which include a focus on farmer's mental health and wellbeing. Many projects also include a focus on rural isolation among the farming community. The open call includes a provision to extend suitable projects into 2027.
My Department is currently exploring opportunities across Government to collaborate on initiatives to help address isolation and loneliness in farming and rural communities.
My Department is also supporting research on this important topic. The UCD-led project “Farming Minds: Developing evidence-based interventions to enhance farmer mental health” seeks to identify interventions that support and promote mental wellbeing in farming communities.
Together with my colleague Minister of State Niall Collins T.D., who has special responsibility for farm safety, I will continue to deliver initiatives which support the mental health and wellbeing of our farmers and farming community.