Engaging farmers in social farming Erasmus Project

Project Title

Engaging farmers in social farming

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Agriculture, forestry and fisheries; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

SoEngage developed an online learning platform with modules, case studies and resources to develop the skills and competence of farmers to engage in social farming. The platform is available in the 5 languages of the partners (English, German, Polish, Spanish and Romanian) as an OER which can be shared across the EU.

The rationale for the SoEngage project is that family farms represent an important resource to maintain and improve the social, economic and cultural sustainability of rural areas.

The overall objective is to support farmers engage in Social Farming by developing their knowledge, skills and competences through training to consider, plan and deliver a professional Social Farm service for the economic benefit and sustainability of the farm and the rural community. The quality of a Social Farming service depends on the expertise and training of the farmers engaged in its delivery.

The partners of the SoEngage project provide a range of training and support for farmers in their 6 regions. The partners identified a gap in information and training on social farming which enabled farmers to make informed decisions on whether or not this innovative entrepreneurial activity was suitable for their farm.

The gap was addressed by collaborating to harness the expertise of the partners to develop an online learning platform that provided information, resources and a comprehensive set training modules and can studies on social farming available in the 5 partner languages.

The innovative approach is that:
– Social Farming (Care Farming or Farming for Health) is an innovative multifunctional activity which offers farmers the opportunity to use their agricultural expertise and resources to promote therapy, rehabilitation, social inclusion, education and social services for economic benefit.
– The farm remains a working farm where people who need care support can benefit from participation in farm activities in a non-clinical environment.
– Unlike traditional training, which is delivered on-site, with trainers at specific times, the SoEngage online learning platform makes training accessible for farmers to complete self-learning at a time that is convenient to them. Such online learning was not previously available in the partner countries.

Partners prepared a report on the situation of social farming in each region and a summary report in all languages.

Each partner designed a module based on their area of expertise to produce six online modules which covered all aspects of social farming including an overview of social farming, the skills required for social farming, the resources necessary to deliver social farming, the types of people who use a social farm and how to develop a social farm business plan.

Twenty one best practice case studies were selected across the partner regions with three to five examples from each partner region and provides information on the social farmer, the type of farm, the services offered and the range of participants that use the social farm. The case studies show the diversity that exists within social farming in the activities and the people that use the social farm services.

The online learning platform includes a self assessment to test learning and each learner can complete a Course Certificate at the end of the training. PDF versions of the Modules, Case Studies and Certificate are available for trainees on usb.

The SoEngage project partners produced a National Report on the status of Social Farming in each of their six regions: Germany, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the UK. A Summary Report captures the main points highlighted in the National Reports to give an overview of the situation of social farming across the partner regions.

A resources section on the online platform provides a range of additional reading material on social farming including research, handbooks, examples of good practice and polices relating to social farming.

The online learning platform was developed and tested with trainees which included existing social farmers over 300 tests. Feedback from the tests was used to improve the online platform to ensure the training met the needs of the target group.

The long term benefit of the online learning platform is that:
– It can be easily shared across Europe to provide farmers with the skills and knowledge they need to engage in social farming
– Farmers benefit through the entrepreneurial and economic opportunity to use their skills and resources in social farming
– The farm remains a full working farm
– Social farming offers care and health benefits to the people who use the services
– The training improves the professional quality of the social farm service
– The wider rural community benefits through the social, economic and cultural sustainability

The partners are grateful to the European Union through Erasmus+ funding for the opportunity to support farmers engage in social farming.

Project Website

https://www.soengage.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 288010 Eur

Project Coordinator

The Rural Centre & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Rural Support
• CPIP-COMUNITATEA PENTRU INVATAREA PERMANENTA
• Hof und Leben GmbH
• Leitrim Integrated Development Company Company Limited by Guarantee
• FORMACION PARA EL DESARROLLO E INSERCION, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA
• STOWARZYSZENIE ARID