Plans to expand the Social Farming programme are under way, with a submission made to the Department of Agriculture, to include the project in future CAP schemes.
Farmers involved in the current Social Farming pilot programme, receive up to €80/person/day, which involves participants from areas such as youth services and intellectual disabilities, visiting farms and taking part in farm activities. “It’s particularly important from a mental health perspective that people have the opportunity to see that winter comes and things are dark and cold but spring comes again,” Dr Aisling Moroney of Social Farming said.