The clear message from the ‘Issues affecting rural life’ panel discussion at the Embrace Farm Conference on Thursday was to "look after each other".

Listen to "Ageing rural population need supports to be put in place" on Spreaker.

Two farmers who survived farm accidents, William Sayer and Kevin McGarry, along with Maria Feeney from DCU, all featured on the panel.

Maria Feeney from the Department of Sociology in DCU's Institute of Education set out the changes in terms of demographics in rural Ireland.

On the negative side, the realities included loss of networks and limited access to services undermining the social fabric of rural areas

She called out the positives and negatives of rural life. The positives included a strong sense of community, affordable housing and rural Ireland being a fantastic place to bring up your family.

On the negative side, the realities included loss of networks and limited access to services undermining the social fabric of rural areas. Analysis shows that life expectancy rates are improving but Irish men live shorter lives than Irish women and although the gender gap has narrowed, it is still there.

"This improvement has come about as health literacy has improved, but big-picture datasets can mask the reality, with subsets of people, including farmers, more negatively impacted than others.

"Such realities can affect one's resilience or limits one's capacity to build resilience and stay well," she said.

Population decline

There is low and slow population growth and population decline in rural areas with a greater concentration of older people in predominantly rural areas where social inequality can be an issue.

Mairead McGuinness highlighted that there are now many voices for farmers but they are in effect pitting farmers against each other and this is a real problem

This social inequality is a determinant of health and affects health outcomes. This research identified farmers, the unemployed and rurally isolated as an at-risk group due to, deteriorating physical health, pressure of being a provider, internalising problems and societal challenges

European Parliament vice president Mairead McGuinness highlighted that there are now many voices for farmers but they are in effect pitting farmers against each other and this is a real problem.

This was in response to Kevin McGarry, when questioned on what is required to move the dial on the issues impacting farmers in rural Ireland. He responded that there is no quick fix and he would like to see less of farmers being pitted against each other.

“We are competing for the national reserve, the same ground and we are at each other’s throats a bit. Dairy against tillage against beef. Brakes need to be applied a little and some perspective put into it as we are not directly in competition with each other."

We need each other

William Sayers who lost his arm at age 12 concluded saying that for the resilience of the industry, we as a team must look after each other.

“If we don’t look after the farmers, there is no industry for others to work in. It has to be a team effort. We need each other.”

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