Abstracts

The farm environment generally provides a beautiful and functional framework for organizing Green Care activities. There are meaningful ways to work with a variety of target groups and Green Care can be implemented in several ways. The purpose of this study was to examine the interest and competence of farmers in the region of Kainuu to implement Green Care activities in addition to their basic production.

The study was a quantitative research. The research material was collected using the Webropol questionnaire. The questionnaire was answered by 36 respondents (n=36). The survey was started in the autumn of 2017 and the survey was conducted in November 2017. About one third of the respondents implemented or wanted to implement Green Care methods on their own farms. The survey also revealed that the motivation to produce Green Care services correlates to the individual values of farmers. The respondents were willing to make use of their farms in versatile ways and to create new business activities in the countryside. The farmers in Kainuu are well educated in various ways in addition to traditional agriculture. Thus it is possible to produce services for specific target groups.

Farmers tended to be willing to get more information about Green Care through practical examples. Their responses also showed that the farmers have to be supported to start Green Care activities. They also showed an interest in becoming educated in the social sector. Green Care is not yet a well-known concept in Kainuu, and it was evident that more information about it was essential in order to make the activities lucrative business on the farms in Kainuu.