Fit Farmers app offers new customised edition
The Fit Farmers app is a one-stop shop to offer clear, reliable health information farmers can trust.
It’s a practical, easy-to-use digital tool that brings expert-backed support into one accessible place. It was designed with and for farmers and in collaboration with farming experts and farming organisations.
Expansion into new areas of Ireland
Last month Fit Farmers officially launched its newly customised health app for Co. Leitrim.
The Leitrim version of the Fit Farmers app has been specially customised for the county, commissioned by Leitrim Local Community Development Committee and Leitrim County Council through the Healthy Ireland Fund, supported by the Department of Health.
The customised app will provide farmers and farm families with health and wellbeing information alongside signposting to relevant local supports and services.
‘An alternative to reaching for Dr Google’
Nurse Laura Tully, founder of the Fit Farmers programme, which developed the app in partnership with PIF member Expert Self Care, told reporters: "For many of us, reaching for the phone has become almost automatic when something doesn't feel right… Within seconds, we can have pages of Google results or an AI generated answer telling us what it might be."
Tully stressed that the problem is "knowing what to trust" and added: "I believe the answer isn't to tell farmers to stop using technology”.
Instead, she wants to make it easier to find reliable health information and to recognise when it is time to put down the phone and speak to a health professional.
“Google and AI aren't going anywhere and technology can be a fantastic tool for helping us understand our health. But your phone can't examine you and it doesn't know your full story.
“Use technology to become better informed, but don't let it talk you out of getting something checked."
Dr Knut Schroeder, GP and founder and director of Expert Self Care, who also sits on the PIF Advisory Group, said: "Laura puts it perfectly – the answer isn't less technology, it's human-centred technology farmers can trust. That's what the PIF TICK stands for.
“Every page in the app is evidence-based, written in plain language, and reviewed by farmers themselves. What Leitrim's partners have done is quietly important, in that they've put trusted, local support in the pockets of people who rarely ask for help."
More about Fit Farmers
The app, which is PIF TICK-certified, is completely free, requires no sign-up, and works offline. It was designed to put trusted information in farmers' pockets so anyone can use it in the field or in areas with poor signal. It features simple navigation, fast loading and a clean, user-friendly design to support even those less confident with tech.
Fit Farmers has also been awarded funding through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Open Call for Farmer Safety, Health and Wellbeing Projects 2026. This funding will support the delivery of in-person Fit Farmers lifestyle programmes in two new counties, Tipperary and Offaly, this autumn.