National Care Farming Initiative (UK) Briefing Paper

Transcription

1 National Care Farming Initiative (UK) Briefing Paper The Potential Development of Care Farming in the UK Projections from November 2007 Dutch research

2 Dutch Care Farming Statistics Breakdown Care farming in the Netherlands has been developed over the past 10 years from a similar position of that currently found in the UK. This briefing draws out key details from a 2007 paper published as part of the European COST action 866 Green Care in Agriculture. In the Netherlands the progress and potential of care farms was fully realised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports in 1998, which collaborated to stimulate the development and professionalism of care farming nationally, resulting in the rapid growth of care farming. Care farms are considered as examples of innovation in the rural area and contributors to the desired integration of care in society. All Dutch data derived from Current status and potential of care farms in the Netherlands (Hassink et al, 2007) and A care farm? How am I supposed to picture that? (National Support Centre for Agriculture and Care (Netherlands), 2007). The compact main Hassink paper is available to download if full, in English from the NCFI website. UK farm information taken from UK Government s Agriculture and Horticulture Census data. Exchange rate of 1 to 1.39 used. Key Facts 0.9% (818) of all farms in the Netherlands now providing care annual average revenue from care activities on non-institutional care farms 73,000 ( 52,517). Projecting these statistics onto the UK, care farming would be generating 149 million for the rural economy in 10 years from delivering care alone (excluding the extensive associated health and social welfare benefits). Care farming is by far the fastest growing area of farm diversification in the Netherlands. The presence of a real farmer who is dedicated to farming, with authority and entrepreneurship appears to be crucial for successful care farms. Dutch care farm numbers % of all farms % of all farms In National Agricultural Census of 2003, 363 farmers had a care farm. This represented 0.4% of all farms (meaning there were 90,750 farms in the Netherlands). Total number of farms in the Netherlands has fallen by around 2% each year since 2003 (Hassink, pers. com). This means that the most recent figure of 818 care farms in 2007 would represent at least 0.9% of all farms.

3 Dutch care farm Jobs Average number of regular workers on care farms 2005 was 2.8 compared to 2.0 for non care farms. Dutch care farming income Average income per person per day rose from ( 17-26) in 1999 to ( 34-58) in annual average revenue from care activities on non-institutional care farms 73,000 ( 52,517). Multifunctionality and diversification Table 1: Some characteristics of conventional farms with extended activities. Data based on Voskuilen et al. (2006), cited in Hassink et al (2007). Reference year Table 1 shows that care farming is by far the fastest growing multifunctional agricultural sector. In % of care farms had extended activities other than care. Funding The introduction of healthcare personal budgets for clients has been stimulating for care farmers. In 2005 most care farms used several sources of funding for their care activities: More than 60% of the care farms had a contract with a care institution Almost 60% had one or more clients with a personal budget Average payment per client per day was higher for clients accessing personal budget 77 ( 55) than for those through care institutions or care farming organisation, AWBZ (about 50 or 36).

4 Personal budgets now being introduced to UK health services: People who use the service Table 2: Number of clients per target group that make use of a care farm. Reference year Average number of clients per care farm was 18 As a rough estimate, the Dutch assume that the potential number of clients interested in making use of a care farm is on average 5% for each target group nearly 10,000 clients making use of 591 care farms (including institutionalised care farms) Private, more production-orientated care farms were found to be more successful in meeting the goals of mentally challenged clients than institutional farms (Elings,2004 cited in Hassink et al, 2007). The presence of a real farmer who is dedicated to farming, with authority and entrepreneurship appears to be crucial (Hassink et al, 2007).

5 Future developments in the Netherlands The future of care farming in the Netherlands will depend upon: Client satisfaction Adequate proof of its values and effects Sufficient funds for care services Enough farmers willing to start a care farm Professionalisation of this new sector National and RDA Economic Projections Number of farm holdings Care farms (10 year) Income (10 year) UK 315,932 2, ,326,208 SCOTLAND 51, ,252,771 WALES 37, ,724,488 NORTHERN IRELAND 26, ,638,269 ENGLAND 200,381 1,803 94,710,681 REGIONS: NORTH EAST 6, ,271,704 NORTH WEST 23, ,077,568 YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER 21, ,208,832 EAST MIDLANDS 21, ,196,543 WEST MIDLANDS 26, ,388,708 EASTERN 22, ,719,297 LONDON ,979 SOUTH EAST 26, ,447,317 SOUTH WEST 51, ,149,732 ENDS Jon Dover January 2008 NCFI Policy Officer jondover@ncfi.org.uk