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Green Care in Switzerland a subject for further
development and a research project in the
planning stage
Hans Wydler Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research
Station ART, Switzerland
Introduction As in other countries,
agriculture in Switzerland is undergoing rapid
structural change. Productivity is increasing,
and subsidies are likely to decrease in a more
liberalised market in the near future. Swiss
agriculture can be expected to adapt to the
current situation in the EU. Actually the
situation in Switzerland is characterised by a
large num-ber of small farms, some of which are
earning insufficient household income. The number
of farms and of people employed in the
agricul-tural sector are expected to further
decrease over the next few years. In some
peripheral communities the infrastructure and the
ways of ear-ning a living are precarious, owing
to this trend. Alternative or additional work
and earning opportunities on farms and in rural
regions are in demand. Well known in Switzerland
are agrotourism opportunities and different types
of direct marketing of farm products to
consumers. The extent to which farms deliver
health, social or educational services is
currently unknown, and this con-stitutes the
subject of the planned project.

• Green care working definition for the project
• Green care is the creation of added value and
  surplus through effecting services.
• Effected on the farm place.
• May be produced using natural resources of rural
  households, e.g. plants, animals, landscape as
  well as other rural factors and qualities of
  those involved.
• Involves both paid and unpaid work.
• In the spheres of a) Health (e.g. care
  services for the handicapped and the elderly,
  ser-vices for health and well-being and services
  with therapeutic aims) or
• b) Social work (e.g. socio-pedagogical work,
  occupational work) or
• c) Education (e.g. school farms).
• Produced in any type of household (e.g.
  different production struc-ture and amount of
  production, in public or private status, under
  different legal forms of ownership, as well as
  rent or cooperation of different farms.
• Produced by dependent or independent labour,
• Produced by any member of the household (e.g.
  the partner of a farmer, the farmers children,
  his or her parents, or any other person living on
  the farm).

Different levels and steps in the planned
project

• Aims of the project
• Encouraging green care services on farms and in
  rural households
• Establishing a farm/household perspective on
  green care
• A first target is to describe the status quo of
  green care in Switzer-land.
• Acquiring a better knowledge of supporting und
  restricting factors in delivering green care
  services, not only at farm level, but also at
  context level, and at the level of interaction of
  the two.
• Providing an outline of practical results and
  tips of use to different players in the field
  (e.g. mediators and organisations active in
  advising households and farms).
• Some interventive aspects will be achieved, such
  as the green care online database, useful for
  farms, clients and organisations.

• Agroscope ART Research for agriculture and
  nature
• We conduct research into environmentally
  compatible and econo-mically competitive farming.
  Our primary concern is for a highly diverse rural
  area.
• We develop and assess sustainable
  plant-production and animal-husbandry systems.
• We combine ecology, economics and agricultural
  engineering in a holistic approach to research.
• We create scientific knowledge and
  decision-making tools for agriculture, government
  authorities and society.

Methods and proceedings The length of the
project is four years, from January 2008 to
December 2011. Resources for basic accomplishment
of the project are guaranteed (four man-years)
additional money is required for enquires and
implementation A multi-level and multi-step
analysis of knowledge acquisition is
intended. Decision-making in rural households
will be investigated within a system-context
framework.
Clients
Literature Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of
planned behaviour. Organizational Behaviour and
Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211. Ajzen, I.
Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes
and predicting social behaviour. Englewood
Cliffs Prentice Hall. Prochaska, J. O.
DiClemente, C. (1984). The transtheoretical
approach crossing traditional foundations of
change. Homewood, Ill. Don Jones/Irwin. Prochaska
, J. O. DiClemente, C. (1986).Towards a
comprehensive model of change. In W. R. Miller
N. Heather (eds.), Treating addictive behaviours
processes of change, New York Plenum Press, pp.
3-27.
Quality of services
Sructure of request
Structure of offerings
Farms
Organisations
For further information Hans Wydler, lic.phil.
E-mail
hans.wydler_at_art.admin.ch Socioeconomics
Working Group at the Research Station Agroscope
Reckenholz-Tänikon ART, an institution in the
Federal Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) of
the Swiss Confederation Address Tänikon,
CH-8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland Tel. [phone]
31 31 Tel. direct dial 41 52 368 32 06 Fax
41 52 365 11 90 www.art.admin.ch