Social work in farming: valuable elements of the farm environment for different target groups

Social farms or care farms offer work for specific target groups.
Different target groups make use of these social farms.
They often involve people who have a disability or are in a vulnerable phase of their lives.
Depending on the participants, care farms can offer workplaces where people can find a meaningful activity, work rehabilitation and training or an informal place in which they can improve their sense of well-being in a green environment.
In this concept, farms and rural environments are used as a tool for the rehabilitation and work integration of individuals with diverse health or social challenges.
Despite the fact that the social farming sector is growing in Europe, there is still little educational material available on what exactly works for which target group on the farm.
In the Erasmus+ project SoFarTEAM, we conducted 45 interviews with social farmers and supervisors in four different countries.
In addition, these data were supplemented by the results of other effect studies.
Results from different studies show that the care farm has four main qualities: involvement of the farmer and supervisors, a social community, meaningful and diverse activities and a green environment.
This study has further enriched and deepened this theoretical framework and looked in particular at which elements in the farm environment can be used specifically for the development of certain target groups.

XVI International People Plant Symposium

M. Elings, E. Hudcova, C. Schneider, J. Moudry, A. Moroney, M. Harth, M. Parizek

care farms, social farms, social work, valuable elements, effects, target groups

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2026.1459.11