Social Farming Across Borders
On 12th September 2012 Northern Ireland’s Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Michelle O’Neill MLA alongside Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd jointly launched a new cross border Social Farming initiative. This INTERREG IVA Project is led by the School of Agriculture & Food Science.The ‘Social Farming Across Borders’ (SoFAB) project will link the health care and agriculture sectors to establish a novel social support service for people that use health and social services. Fergus O’Dowd TD, said “Our respective Departments recognise and support the potential of this innovative cross border project. We understand how experiencing farming at first hand, combined with physical activity has been shown to help a broad range of vulnerable people suffering from mental health problems, physical and learning disabilities and drug or alcohol addiction.”
She added “Social Farming is particularly relevant to my department on two counts. It complements our work on tackling rural poverty and social isolation while also providing an opportunity for farmers to generate additional income by developing a Social Farming enterprise.”
Minister O’Dowd further added his recommendation to farmers and farm families across the Region to take the time to consider the potential benefits of Social Farming to their business and local community. He said “The Social Farming project has been awarded funding of almost €700,000 from the European Union’s Interreg IVA Programme. My department welcomes the targeting social inclusion through this initiative. The development of Across Borders Social Farming network further enables farmers and those involved in health and social care services to engage and develop the provision of Social Farming in the cross border region and Northern Ireland.
Pat Colgan Chief Executive of the EU Special Programmes Body (SEUPB) welcomed the project by saying: “Social Farming is an innovative project and one which the SEUPB is delighted to be supporting. It addresses one of the core objectives of the INTERREG IVA Programme to contribute to a more sustainable cross-border region. Upon completion, this project will have helped build capacity among service providers and through its pilot programme it will gather crucial information on how best to implement this new concept of service delivery in the eligible area”
During the next two years, the Social Farming Across Borders project, which has been jointly developed by University College Dublin, Queen’s University of Belfast, Leitrim Development Company and DARD’s College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) will establish twenty demonstration social farms and a cross border network of farmers, health care professionals and people that use services.
Back row l to r - Roy Nelson Queens University Belfast, Brian Smyth Leitrim Development Company, Aideen McGloin UCD, Deirdre O’Connor UCD, Tom Lavin Leitrim Development Company, Jim Kinsella University College Dublin, Jude Stephens Queens University Belfast, James O’Boyle Department of Agriculture Northern Ireland.
Front Row l to r - Minister Michelle O’Neill, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development NI, Pat Colgan SEUPB, Minister Fergus O’Dowd. Minister of State Communication, Energy & Natural Resources and Environment, Community & Local Government (ROI)
Social Farming is the practice of offering activity on family farms as a form of social support service. In Social Farming the farm remains a working farm at its core but invites people to participate in the day to day activities of the farm. Social Farming provides people who use services with the opportunity for inclusion, to increase self-esteem and to improve health and well-being. The farm is not a specialised treatment farm; rather it remains a typical working farm where people in need of support can benefit from participation in farm activities in a non- clinical environment. Social farming is well established in a number of EU countries such as Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.
This Project covers the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Londonderry, Louth, Monaghan, Tyrone and Sligo. It is an EU INTERREG IVA funded project. Social Farming Across Borders (SoFAB) is led by University College Dublin, in partnership with Queen's University Belfast and Leitrim Development Company. The UCD team comprises Dr. Jim Kinsella (PI and Project Manager); Aideen McGloin (Deputy Project Manager); Dr. Deirdre O’Connor and Paul Henry. Over the three years of the Project (2011-14) it aims to:
- Implement 20 on farm based pilots projects
- Establish a network of farmers, health/social care personnel and others
- Hosts network visit to Social Farms in Ireland and UK.
- Provide training to sixty farmers and health/social care personnel
- Share learning through conferences, network meetings and web site
- Publish a Guide book to assist the establishment of Social Farming