Probably the most important factor in starting up a care farm is motivation. You have to really want to do it, and not purely as a business activity.
Your priority as a care farmer is to provide health and social care services for individuals from one or a number of vulnerable groups. You will want to create a meaningful environment where people can spend time, gain confidence, new skills and experience how a farm works.
Economics also plays a part and some farms are keen to broaden their income stream by setting up as a care farm. You can earn a decent living mixing farming and care, but it is likely that there will be extra costs involved too.
Questions to ask
If your motivation is primarily economic you may want to think about doing something else. In the first instance, try asking yourself the following questions to see if you’re ready to take your idea further:
- What is my motivation - How long have I been thinking about this and why do I want to do it?
- Which client group/s would I like to welcome to my farm and why?
- What activities could be done on my farm and would the potential client group/s be interested or suited?
- Can I find activities to do all year round, and in all weathers?
- Do I have the facilities for people to get warm and dry or eat lunch, would I need to build/convert somewhere?
- Do I have the money to invest into that or would I need to find funding?
- Would all the family welcome this plan?
- Do I like spending time with people and do I want them on the farm every day or just a couple of days a week?
- Do I have good social skills, patience and empathy?
- Is my site/farm fairly accessible as it is likely that a significant number of people will be coming from more urban areas?
- Would my neighbours/parish council/local community be supportive?
- Am I happy handling paperwork or would I need to employ someone to help with this?
Working with care farming groups
If all these questions seem overwhelming, try to picture it on your farm and see if you can see yourself in that picture. If you can’t but would still like to see the farm being used as a care farm, perhaps you could let a group come in to use some of the land and buildings.
This can work very well as the group/project leader will have the background and experience to ensure that the participants are looked after and engaging with the activities, and you can advise on the farming/horticulture/animal side of things.
Either way, you will need to get a potential purchaser of your care farm service on-side.
Real-life example - Clynfyw Care Farm CIC
Watch Care farmer Jim Bowen speaking about his journey in farming from the family run organic farm to what is now Clynfyw Care Farm CIC: