Care farming in the UK: Evidence and Opportunities

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.

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