Creating an age-friendly environment in farming through ‘Farmer’s Yards’, a social organisation for older farmers

Globally, policy aimed at stimulating generational renewal in agriculture tends to pay limited regard to the mental health and wellbeing of the older farmer, overlooking their identity and social circles, which are intertwined with their occupation and farm. This study, in probing this contentious issue, casts its net across what could be deemed as disparate literatures, namely connected to transferring the family farm and social gerontology. It investigates what steps could be taken at both policy and societal level to reassure older farmers that their sense of purpose and legitimate social connectedness within the farming community will not be jeopardised upon handing over the farm business to the next generation in later life. In doing this, the study sheds light on the potential of transforming farming into an age-friendly sector of society, in line with the WHO’s Age-friendly Environments Concept.

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