The main aim of SOFARM was to promote social and organic farming across Europe as a pathway to sustainable agriculture and a more inclusive society. By motivating farmers to adopt social farming practices, the project sought to create sustainable models to integrate disadvantaged or disabled people and provide them with meaningful employment and social connections. To this objective, the SOFARM project has planned five main deliverables, which are described in more detail later in this final report or in the work packages. These outputs have been designed to provide farmers with practical knowledge on implementing eco-social practices, promoting their activities and reaching new supporters and markets to achieve lasting impact.
The SOFARM project was designed to address specific issues identified through a needs analysis and roundtable discussion with 14 social farmers. This research revealed significant barriers affecting the effectiveness and sustainability of social farming across Europe. Among the 39 barriers identified, three key ones emerged: limited sales due to ineffective marketing, low public awareness of social farming and lack of tailored business support. Farmers face limited visibility and product dissemination, which prevents the impact and recognition of social farming. In addition, access to targeted business advice is essential to develop competencies for sustainable action. To address these challenges, the SOFARM project aimed to develop educational resources that would not only provide business skills, but also promote the benefits of social farming to society and equip farmers with practical tools to overcome these challenges.