Plans have been unveiled for a groundbreaking health and social care innovation which will create a network of working ‘care farms’ across Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire.
Care Farming West Midlands (CFWM) has been set up with investment worth £400,000 from the Advantage West Midlands Rural Regeneration Zone to develop 20 new care farms.
Care farms have the dual benefit of developing existing businesses and also providing a positive lifestyle for individuals traditionally excluded from society. These working farms help a variety of individuals including those with special needs, people recovering from substance misuse, experiencing mental health problems and the long-term unemployed.
Care farms provide a practical combination of meaningful work, a supportive daily structure and connection with other people in a natural and healthy environment.
The concept was originally developed in the Netherlands where there are now more than 1,000 farms of this type providing rehabilitation and support to people who will typically have been referred through social care, legal or medical channels.
Roger Murray, Chairman of Care Farming West Midlands, explained the idea behind care farming:
“Essentially, care farming is about providing a healthy daily structure for people to develop their social and practical skills.
“While no two care farms are the same, the concept works in two main ways, supporting the health services by working with people with illnesses, and supporting social services by helping those who have, for various reasons, been excluded from society.
“This might include, for example, people who have suffered from substance abuse and possibly in trouble with the law on the one hand and people who have mental illness, the long-term unemployed and homeless.
“Very often people only need a second chance in life and the farming environment can be perfect to provide structure and discipline and working in a care farm environment can have a tremendous impact, giving people a chance to develop something for themselves, improving their skills and health.
“The West Midlands is the first region in the UK to provide structure and organisation to the care farming network.
“To date we have received the support of many organisations, not least the Rural Regeneration Zone who, like us, have recognised the huge potential care farming can deliver to the welfare of individuals and to the economy of the West Midlands.”
The official launch of Care Farming West Midlands took place at The Fold in Bransford near Worcester which is earmarked to be one of the first care farms in the programme.
Ian Edwards, Rural Regeneration Zone Team Leader, said: “There are already a number of care farms successfully operating in the West Midlands but the formation of CFWM will provide focus for the movement.
“We see care farms as not only an important way to improve social and economic inclusion within the Zone but also a way of helping to make farms become more competitive.
“I am delighted that the West Midlands is once again leading the way in developing innovative models of health and social care.”
Lord Digby Jones said: “Care farming is such a marvellous way of getting young people who felt that society had passed them by to relate to their environment, to their fellow human beings and to discover good things about themselves.
“They come to learn that nature is on their side and their self-esteem visibly grows as they experience a novel and value-adding way of including them in the opportunities and challenges of life.
“Care Farming West Midlands is up and running in order to make a difference in our home region, to enrich our communities and to make a safer society.
“We all want that and I wish the project all the very best and so much success as they launch into brightening the lives of people we had all forgotten.”