Irish farmers are more than twice as likely to not participate in sport, recreational walking or active transport than the rest of the population, with 25% of farmers classified as inactive, a new survey has found.

Sport Ireland’s Irish Sports Monitor (ISM) survey reveals that just 28% of Irish farmers participate in sport on a weekly basis as opposed to 48% of non-farmers.

Farmers are also less likely to walk for recreation (56%) than non-farmers (70%), with the net result being that only 28% of farmers meet the national physical activity guidelines. These require a minimum of two and a half hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity a week, with 40% of non-farmers hitting the mark.

The ISM is an annual survey of over 8,500 adults into their sporting and physical activity habits and engagement.

“Given the hard labour, the early mornings, long days and sometimes nights, you would be forgiven for thinking that our farming community is among the fittest in the land. Unfortunately, this is not the case,” Benny Cullen, director of research and innovation with Sport Ireland said.

The latest report highlights the strong relationship between the farming community and the GAA, Cullen said.

“Farmers are twice as likely to play Gaelic football (6%), hurling or camogie (2%) than non-farmers (3% and 1% respectively), and one in four farmers are members of a GAA club,” he said.

He added that while physical activity levels are below average, farmers do have a strong interest and connection with sports to build upon and farmers are more likely to attend sporting events (23%) than non-farmers (20%).

Interestingly the survey also reveals a higher activity rate for females than males.

“Female farmers are more than twice as likely than male farmers to regularly participate in sport, and likewise, at 40%, almost twice as likely to be highly active,” he said.

Some 32% of male farmers exhibit sedentary behaviours compared to 15% of female farmers.

Similar trends reflect across the board with 71% of women farmers saying they’d participated in recreational walking in the previous seven days, compared to 47% of men.

Activities

Farmers are two to three times less likely to engage in personal exercise or gym activity (18% non-farmers vs 7% farmers), running (7% non-farmers vs 4% farmers), cycling (5% non-farmers vs 1% farmers) or soccer (4% non-farmers vs 2% farmers).

Notably, the survey found that farmers are nearly three times less likely to swim on a regular basis than non-farmers.

An earlier round of the survey in 2022 found that more than half of farmers (56%) said they couldn’t swim the length of a 25m pool unaided, compared to one in three non-farmers (36%).

Work

Within the field of health science researchers have identified what has come to be known as the ‘physical activity paradox’, Cullen said.

This is a phenomenon whereby work-related activity does not confer the same cardiovascular health benefits as those gained from physical activity in leisure or exercise time.

“In fact, it has been found that high levels of occupational physical activity may instead come with an increased risk of negative health effects such as repetitive strain injuries and poor mental health,” he said.