Care farming in the UK: Evidence and Opportunities

Care farming in the UK: Evidence and Opportunities Executive Summary Rachel Hine, Jo Peacock and Jules Pretty1 Introduction There is much pressure on health and social care providers, the prison and probation services and on education providers in the UK to... More

Care farming in the UK: Evidence and Opportunities Executive Summary Rachel Hine, Jo Peacock and Jules Pretty1 Introduction There is much pressure on health and social care providers, the prison and probation services and on education providers in the UK to supply successful solutions for a range of current health and social challenges such as obesity, depression, prison overcrowding, re-offending rates, disconnection from nature and the increase in number of disaffected young people. The agricultural sector in the UK has been fraught with difficulties and set backs such as BSE, foot and Mouth and bluetongue as well as fluctuations in markets, late subsidy payments and adverse climatic conditions (such as flooding in recent years) resulting in threats to the economic viability of farms. So then, the health sector and social services need additional options compliment medical treatments and offer more choices for rehabilitation, therapy and work training. Public health bodies need ef Less