- public funds (health/care/education sectors) directed to public bodies (Germany, Ireland and Slovenia), farms
(Netherlands) and social cooperatives (Italy);
- rural development policies to compensate farms for social farming activities (Flanders) or to support social farm
start-ups under Axis 3 in the 2007-2013 programming period (Italy);
- direct access to food markets for ethical products and direct selling (France and Italy).
There is no single definition of social farming. Social farming includes a broad range of different practices, so it
is not easy to be defined. However, two common elements are always present: a) it is practised on farms; b) it is
targeted at disabled people. Generally speaking, three areas of social farming can be distinguished:
a) rehabilitation and therapeutic activities*
b) work inclusion and social integration†
c) education activities‡.
There is general consensus that activities under “a” and “b” are part of social farming, but the same is not true of
the education activities under “c”. Some researchers see social farming solely in terms of rehabilitation of people in
difficulty, while others consider it an element of a new well-being and regard social farming as a service provider in
rural areas. The integration of handicapped people in agriculture is a combination of social work and farming which
aims to make the multifunctional potential of agriculture demanded by society and politics. Both agriculture and
social work can profit from cooperation (van Elsen, 2006).
We describe a study of the potential of two farms for integration of physically and mentally disabled people as
well as students and school children.