Erasmus+ Adult Education: FarmElder

“That’s really the magic that happens through an Erasmus+ project. You get the opportunity to go out and you get across Europe and learn and listen and bring back all that knowledge with you.”

The FarmElder project aimed to combat social isolation, particularly among farmers and the elderly in rural areas, through social farming. Social farming is farming or agricultural activity that generates social services in rural areas, such as rehabilitation, therapy, sheltered employment, and life-long education. 

This Erasmus+ Adult Education project was conducted by 7 organisations across Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, and Slovenia, including Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest and South Kerry Development Partnership Limited.  

The project identified an opportunity to address the needs of elderly people with the benefits of social farming. Their goal was to equip new and existing social farming participants to become service providers and advocates and grow the profile of their work. 

The project produced a training course on the process of social farming for the elderly, a project website and training platform, and research reports. This international collaboration is bridging intercultural, intergenerational, and social divides at grassroots levels in communities across Europe. 

Hear directly from those involved about the impact of Erasmus+ funded social farming: