Status and Actual Condition Analysis for Current Operational Cases of Care Farms in South Korea

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the current situations of farms in South Korea which provide care farming activities in order to develop and settle care farms. A questionnaire that includes 60 questions about resources, clients, management, background of establishment, budget, manpower, organization, etc. was developed by the researchers. The survey was conducted by email and phone interview in the period of July to August, 2016. Five farms were participated in this study. As the results, each farm had a different size of land, about 744 -39,670 m 2 . The farms were classified by different types of farming activities such as cultivating horticultural crops or cultivating horticultural crops and raising animals. The background of farmers was health, special education, social welfare or professional farmer. The income sources were from care farming programs, educational program, and crop production. The participants in the care farm were children with or without disability, adolescents, adolescents with behavior problem, adults, adults with mental disability or developmental disability, mental illness, dementia, addict, etc. The major activities in care farms were plant cultivating, harvesting, garden maintenance, cooking by using harvest, crop processing, waling in the farm, caring for animals, dealing with farm work equipment, and farming activity with local residents, etc. The participation duration was 25% for one-day experience, less than two weeks in a week, and more than six months, respectively. To settle and develop care farming of South Korea, the concept, clients, operation, professional manpower, policy, support, etc. should be established.

Animal Assisted Interventions in the Green Care Framework: A Literature Review

“…Within the records analysed, around 36% ( n = 15) aimed at mapping Green Care providers and/or at describing Green Care practices in a geographical area (e.g., a country or a region) [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. The remaining approximately 64% ( n = 27) described the perceived benefits of Green Care with animals programs by both users and providers.…”

“…Other eight records did not even specify the animal species involved, even if the users interacted directly with them [ 17 , 18 , 20 , 22 , 24 , 26 , 31 , 42 ]. Finally, nine records reported specifically the animal species involved in their activities: in four cases two or three species were mentioned: goats, cattle and pigs [ 37 ], chickens and pigs [ 47 ], chickens and rabbits [ 21 ] or cattle, hens and alpacas [ 33 ]. In five records, authors referred only to one species: horses [ 27 , 35 , 39 ] or dairy cows [ 28 , 40 ].…”

“…In five records, authors declared some other activities but these were not described at all [ 19 , 20 , 32 , 45 , 46 ]. The 31% of records referred to mixed programs that included human–animal interactions together with agriculture, horticulture and gardening [ 10 , 13 , 17 , 18 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 33 , 36 , 38 , 42 , 44 ]. The remaining 37% described programs that combined human–animal interactions with extremely various activities such as playing, eating together and conventional therapies.…”

“…We highlighted that in 13 records human–animal interaction was not the only activity provided, but in the same context users could benefit from horticulture and gardening, which are relevant in Green Care [ 10 , 13 , 17 , 18 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 33 , 36 , 38 , 42 , 44 ]. This framework created an interconnection between “taking care of plants” and “taking care of animals” offering a holistic approach to the beneficiary who is completely surrounded by the rural environment.…”

Agro-Healing Service Quality Analysis Using IPA Analysis for Business Owners

“…The questionnaire consisted of 14 questions related to the resource status of agro-healing farms, 5 questions on the design of the agro-healing service policies, and 5 demographic questions. Agro-healing farm resource questions were subdivided into characteristics, operation status, environmental resources, and activity type (Lee et al, 2018a;Jeong et al, 2017). The questions pertaining to the general characteristics of the farm covered the factors of 'area,' 'facilities' and 'operation period.'…”