Embrace Farm has called for more accurate data on the causes and impacts of death and injury on Irish farms following the Embrace Farm encircle conference in Tullamore on Thursday.

The farm support organisation said that this data is needed in order to provide adequate support to Irish farm families.

In reviewing the impact of the Encircle European Innovation Partnership (EIP), which was launched last year, Embrace Farm co-founder Norma Rohan said that in one year, almost 20% of the organisation's supports are now directed to sudden deaths, which shows the demand for these kind of services.

"The challenge however is that there is limited data available to accurately capture this, as both the HSA and Teagasc figures only account for farm accidents.

'Anecdotal stories'

"We have all heard anecdotal stories of farmers dying by suicide in our communities, yet the statistics do not reflect that.

"There is work to be done here and we would advocate for a review of more accurate recording of sudden death and injury by occupation [for] farmers, both full-time and part-time," she said.

The event featured a number of panel discussions and encouraged participation and conversation from agri-business on the continued services needed by farm families, while highlighting how the agri sector can work to ensure that every family is supported.

The event was officially opened by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Martin Heydon, who said: “Fatal and life-changing incidents can have devastating impacts on farm families.

'Important service'

"Embrace Farm provides such an important service to the farming community supporting families impacted by all types of serious and sudden traumas.

“The idea behind European Innovation Partnerships is that they enable farmers and experts to collaborate on innovative approaches to address farm safety, health and wellbeing challenges on Irish farms.

Embrace Farm co-founder Brian Rohan spoke about the issue of suicide in small areas of rural Ireland and described it as a "huge issue".

Another issue he said was the impact of people dying prematurely ahead of their years due to sudden ill health or other off-farm incidents.

"We must and we need to support our farm family businesses when sudden crises hit. Farming businesses are the backbone of rural Ireland and are a major contributor to the Irish economy," he said.