Agriculture in Europe is going through a process of change at the economic, social, political, environmental and
cultural levels. Agriculture is forced to realign and meet the rapidly changing needs and expectations of European
society (Marsden et al. 1993; Van der Ploeg et al. 2000; Van der Ploeg 2003).
Burton and Wilson (2006) capture this process with the productivist (postproductivistmultifunctionality model
(the P/PP/MF-model). They show how modern agricultural regimes have moved from “productivism” to
“postproductivism” and recently from “productivism” to “multifunctional agricultural regimes”. The concept of
multifunctional agriculture within a process of integrated rural development (Marsden 2003) may help to provide a
solution for a size able group of farmers. This process may occur along the tracks of “broadening”, “deepening” or
“re-grounding”. The concept of “broadening describes the development of new non agricultural activities. Such
activities widen the income flows of the farm enterprise. Agri-tourism and nature and landscape management are the
most common strategies. Social farming is one type of broadening, that includes:
- health and healing services;
- education and therapy;
- rehabilitation and social fields.