Social Farming

Our Day Opportunities Programme, in partnership with Rural Support and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), have developed a number of social farm sites across the Northern Trust area.

Social Farming is a collaborative use of agriculture to promote therapy, rehabilitation, social inclusion and education in rural areas. The service is delivered by farmers and provides the opportunity for individuals with support needs to get involved in farming in a supportive way.  To ensure quality and safety of delivery, stringent social farming standards are assessed and maintained through Rural Support across each farm site.

Social Farming activities are structured, meaningful, part of a typical farming week and include a wide range of farming tasks, from caring for livestock to growing vegetables and maintaining the land. The farmer providing the service, supervises and guides each participant in the farm environment while they engage in the farm activities.

Service participants benefit through social inclusion, which enables the opportunity to undertake meaningful activities with the associated physical and mental benefits of being outside and interacting with nature and animals.

The progress of this opportunity is continually monitored through the Northern Trust’s Day Opportunities Programme.