Social farming as a tool for innovation in agriculture

Key points

The EESC:

• recommends framing social farming as an agricultural innovation that primarily delivers solutions to social and health problems at local level;
• calls on the European Commission and the Member States to see social farming as a cross-cutting priority, with long-term support, fewer funding barriers, and reduced administrative burden for socio-agricultural activities of proven origin and quality;
• calls for greater awareness on social farming as an integral part of agriculture, and for the development of an EU-wide regulatory framework guaranteeing the origin, quality, and impact of its goods and services, that have a proven ethical origin and positive environmental and social footprint;
• advocates for ethical and environmental standards, fair wages, collective bargaining, safe working conditions, respect for human dignity and predictable employment;
• considers that social farming not only benefits society, but also improves farms’ economic viability by broadening farms’ income base, reducing sector dependence, and creating new employment opportunities;
• stresses the role of social farming in supporting infrastructure in rural areas, particularly where the availability of services is limited and highlights that the links between health, social work and agriculture bring innovation in the form of non-pharmacological approaches in medicine;
• calls for improving work on data and measuring the impact of social farming in a practical and proportionate way, and suggests to monitor the impact on the environment, social policies, employment and public health;
• recommends developing systemic guidance and vocational training in social farming at all levels of education and supports the creation of accredited courses and the provision of information to kindergartens, primary and secondary schools;
• highlights the role of LEADER/CLLD local action groups in supporting social farming and integrating it into local development strategies;
• calls for an EU concept for housing support to be used to build housing capacity in rural areas to support social farming.