Green welfare services
If you have a farm in the countryside, you can run a business offering green welfare services. You can provide meaningful employment for people with special needs.
Green care and green rehabilitation are included in the concept of green welfare services. It involves offering people with special needs meaningful employment, personal development and increased participation in society in a rural setting.
This refers primarily to people who are affected in various ways by the Social Services Act. Another area that is growing is occupational rehabilitation.
The services are usually purchased by municipalities, county councils, the Swedish Public Employment Service, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, but also by private care companies.
How do you succeed with green welfare services?
There are as many ways to run social care services as there are farms. Each farm is unique with its farm environment, production, animals, activities, ambition and drive of the rural entrepreneur. Some accommodate physically or cognitively disabled people, where the stay itself, the atmosphere and the environment are beneficial to them. On other farms, the care recipients carry out simple tasks without any demands to maintain pace or quality.
People who want to run green welfare services usually have a deep commitment to other people and want to make a difference in their daily lives. Sharing the farm's potential and your own know-how can be both rewarding and fulfilling. Another motive is that the farm can earn a decent income. To find out whether green welfare services are right for you and your farm, you may want to visit social care organisations that are already up and running or hire an advisor.
Get help with financing
One of the aims of the rural development programme run by the Swedish Board of Agriculture is to increase the number of businesses offering services or products in rural areas. It is therefore possible for you to apply for business or project support if you want to start a business in a rural area.