As written in the project application, we wanted to boost the recognition of social aspects in agriculture and disseminate their importance among farmers. We tried to mainstream the idea of social farming so that more farmers would learn about it and be willing to provide services to people with special needs. We then wanted to recognize how social work can apply environmental aspects through social farming and disseminate them across social work and farming entities. We wanted more vulnerable people to co-create their living environment and recognize the relations between activity and its impact on nature and ecology. We then wanted to prepare the ground and framework for furthering these ideas in Central European countries in a more significant partner consortium of higher education institutions in some future projects to prepare better students for current life challenges.
When our team applied for the project in 2022, the issue of environmental sustainability was quite vibrant. We had long-term experience with social farming as a specific setting for people with special needs and their involvement in farm settings. The need came from the part of the social work discipline in which the topic of ecology and environmental justice is underestimated and even not well known in project countries (Czechia, Germany, Slovakia). Social work is crucial in reaching social cohesion and aims to empower people to fulfil their lives. Life quality is a balanced social, health, physical and spiritual well-being. In an environmental justice speech, the quality of life is highly influenced by the environment in which we live. It should provide safety, healthy air and food, drinking water, and clean public spaces. People living on the social edge are often limited in their full participation in the societal benefits and lack a voice to advocate for their needs. Social workers should embrace these needs and provide vulnerable people with enough opportunities to influence and co-create the places where they live. The need was to highlight the connection between social work expectations and the offer of social farming.