Cultivating Good Relations through Social and Community Farming
Publisher: ARK
Author(s): Jonny Hanson and Aoibeann Walsh
Date: 2024
Topics: Cooperation, Livelihoods, Renewable Resources
Countries: Northern Ireland
Social and community farming are similar approaches to connecting society with farming and farming with society. Their benefits are diverse and multidimensional, and can include social, economic and environmental elements (Jarábková et al., 2022; O’Hara et al., 2024). Both social, and to a lesser extent, community farming have developed in Northern Ireland over the last decade. Of the two processes, social farming has witnessed greater practical uptake and policy support, the latter particularly at the confluence of agri-rural and health policies (DAERA, 2022; Rural Support, 2019). It has focused primarily on working with adults with learning difficulties and/ or mental ill-health, and has mainly been delivered by and on family farms.
In contrast, community farming is less common in Northern Ireland and has received very limited policy support to date. Its focus has been less on disadvantaged groups and more on general community-led sustainable development, usually on land owned or operated by community projects (O’Hara et al., 2024). There is also overlap between the processes. For example, some community farms in Northern Ireland deliver social farming, while some social farms are also involved in community engagement. Cultivating Good Relations through Social and Community Farming
To date, both social and community farming have engaged with and contributed to good relations in Northern Ireland more implicitly than explicitly. However, despite the challenges of the twin approaches, which in addition to varying degrees of policy support can also include funding, logistics and bureaucratic inertia, there is significant overlap between their multidimensional sustainability benefits and the principles and potential of good relations (Gray et al., 2023; The Executive Office, 2022).
This Policy Brief considers the development of social and community farming in relation to improving connections between differing religious, political and ethnic communities in Northern Ireland. It also discusses the policy context for the growth of both approaches in this space, focusing especially on social farming with refugees and asylum seekers, and community farming with minority ethnic groups. Although there are also many urban community gardens which can deliver similar outcomes, this briefing focuses mostly on rural farming enterprises and initiatives.