5th European COST 866 Conference in Green Care in Agriculture

Advancing our Knowledge of Green Care in Agriculture:the State of the Art and Future Directions

24–26 August, 2010Witzenhausen, Germany

Local Organizer:

Dr. Thomas van Elsen, Petrarca, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany

Local Organizing Committee

:Dr. Thomas van Elsen, P

ETRARCA

, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany.Anne Jaenichen, P

ETRARCA

, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany.Verena Gardowsky, P

ETRARCA

, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany.Marie Kalisch, P

ETRARCA

, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany.Katharina Mittelstraß, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany.Christine Ghafouri, P

ETRARCA

, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany.Johanna Schüßler, School Farm Domain Hochburg, Emmendingen, Germany.Konrad Neuberger, Association for Horticulture and Therapy, Wuppertal, Germany.

Scientific Committee

Dr. Thomas van Elsen, P

ETRARCA

, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany.Dr. Deirdre O Connor, University College Dublin, Ireland.Dr. Katriina Soini, MTT AgriFood Research, Finland.Dr. Joe Sempik, Centre for Child and Family Research, Department of Social Sciences,Loughborough University, United Kingdom.Dr. Joost Dessein, Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Social Sciences Unit,Belgium.Prof. Saverio Senni, Dep. of Agricultural and Forestry Economics, Faculty of Agriculture,TusciaUniversity, Viterbo, Italy.Dr. Jan Hassink, Plant Research International, Wageningen University and Research Center,Wageningen, The Netherlands.Ir. Marjolein Elings, Plant Research International, Wageningen University and Research Center,Wageningen, The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND

“Green Care” is the use of agricultural farms as a base for promoting human mentaland physical health. The health sector and social services need alternatives to tradi-tional medical treatment, therapy, rehabilitation and work training. In the countrysideand on farms, the animals, the plants, the garden, the forest, and the landscape areused in recreational or work-related activities for psychiatric patients, mentally dis-abled persons, people with learning disabilities, people with burnout problems, peoplewith drug problems, young people, elderly people, prisoners in farm prisons, and cli-ents of social services. Such activities may not be pure therapy but extensive experi-ence suggests they may have therapeutic value. The number of such multifunctionalfarms offering Green Care services is increasing rapidly in Europe. Recent studies sug-gest the following numbers: Norway: 600, Netherlands: 830, Italy: 685, Germany:300, Austria: 250, Belgium: 400, Slovenia: 15 and Ireland: 100. Many countries donot have good estimates and numbers are best estimates and depend on how greencare is defined.Over the last four years, EU COST Action 866 Green Care in Agriculture has aimed toincrease the scientific knowledge base on the topic of Green Care in Agriculture and toshape an international research agenda around the issue (seehttp://www.umb.no/greencarefor full details of the Action activities). More specifi-cally, the focus of the Action has been on the following themes:

the development of aconceptual framework for the analysis of the health effects of green care; the promo-tion of best practice in relation to research methodologies in green care; determina-tion of the economic benefits of green care services; identification of the necessary support systems for the development of green care services; analysis of the interfacebetween policy and practice in green care

and

an evaluation of the contribution of green care to agricultural, rural, health and social care policies.

In all of these specific areas, our work has also focused on identifying the key re-search questions that should inform a research strategy on the topic of Green Care inAgriculture. Previous conferences and workshops undertaken by this Action have fo-cused on presentation of research activities; discussion of the concepts andtheoretical frameworks in Green Care research and addressing research needs andpolicy challenges.You are cordially invited to the final event of the Action takes place this year from 24-26 August 2010 in Witzenhausen, Germany. We want to use this opportunity to pre-sent key findings on the above-mentioned themes to a broad range of stakeholdersand to receive feedback and analysis from a range of academic and policy interests.Further information and updates can be found on the event website atwww.soziale-landwirtschaft.de/index.php/veranstaltungen/cost-conference-2010or on the Actionwebsite atwww.umb.no/greencare

Event Programme

Monday 23 August 2010

There will be an additional “pre-conference” day before the COST event itself beginson Tuesday, 24 August 2010. Contributors from several countries are being invited toshare and discuss aspects from of their own research and their country's situation re-garding green care. It will be of particular interest to German stakeholders to learnabout green care in other European countries. This additional conference day will besupported by the German Rural Areas Network (seewww.netzwerk-laendlicher-raum.de/). Simultaneous translation will be provided. People from abroad participat-ing in this "pre-conference" event should arrive one day earlier on Sunday 22-08-2010. Updates about this event will be available from our website atwww.soziale-landwirtschaft.de/index.php/veranstaltungen/cost-conference-2010.