Conference Programme, 23rd August 2010
University of Kassel-Witzenhausen,
Neue Aula, Nordbahnhofstraße  

DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION:FRIDAY,13TH AUGUST 2010

Organisation and moderation:
National Rural Network (NRN), Germany and PETRARCA (European Academy for the Culture of Landscape)

Conference Languages: German / English (Simultanous Translation will be provided)

Monday, 23rd August 2010

8:30           Registration

09:00        Opening speech and welcome
                  Jan Swoboda (NRN Germany) und Thomas van Elsen (PETRARCA)

09:10        Social farming in Germany and Europe EU-activities to support Social Farming
                 (COST Action Green Care in Agriculture, SoFar-Project und working  
                 group Farming for Health), Thomas van Elsen (PETRARCA, Germany)

I. Social farming in Germany: challenges und perspectives

09:40        Potentials of social farming in Germany: the perspective of the 
                  Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
                  (BMELV)
                  Ralf Wolkenhauer (Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer
                  Protection, Germany) 

10:10        The UN-convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
                  and its relevance for social farming
                  Jens Kretzschmar (Office for Inclusion Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)

10:40        Coffee break

11:10        Social farming as a task for training and education:  the training 
                  programme in Weide-Hardebek
                  Hartwig Ehlers (Farm Community Weide-Hardebek, Germany)

11:40        Financing and economic efficiency of social farming – the
                  example of integrating long term unemployed people
                  (Waldeck Farm, Göppingen)
                  Karin Woyta (Staufen Promotion of Employment gGmbH, Göppingen)
 

12:10       Green Care as a solution to some challenges of the health care
                  system
                  Piet Driest (Bureau Idee en verder, The Netherlands)

12:40        Discussion

13:15        Lunchbreak

II. Learning from European experiences:  the Netherlands, Italy and Ireland

14:15        Development of social farming in the Netherlands: diversity and
                  success of initiatives at local and regional level
                   Jan Hassink (University of Wageningen, Netherlands)

14:45       Social cooperatives as providers of social farming in Italy
                 Francesco Di Iacovo (University of Pisa, Italy)

15:15       The European SoFar-Project as driving force – the example of        
                  Ireland
                 Deirdre O‘Connor (University of Dublin, Ireland)

15:45       Coffee break

III. Perspectives of social farming in Germany and Europe

16:15       Panel Discussion: “The future of social farming”
                 Chair: Saverio Senni (Tuscia University, Viterbo, Italy)

                Introductory presentations:
                    1. Social farming as pioneer work in Poland
                         Monika Latkowska (University of Warsaw, Poland)
                    2. Innovations in Green Care:  the Greek examples Kassandra
                        Farm Prison and the Eleonas Center for drug addicted people 
                        Christos Gallis (Forest Research Institute NAGREF, Thessaloniki, 
                        Greece)
                   3. Family farms and small structures –  an insight into social
                        farming in Switzerland
                        Hans Wydler (Research Institute Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon  
                        ART, Switzerland)

                Further panelists: Thomas van Elsen, Jens Kretzschmar, Hartwig
                Ehlers, Karin Woyta, Jan Hassink, Piet Driest, Francesco Di Iacovo,
                Deirdre O‘Connor

18:00       Conclusions

20:00       Networking at Restaurant Zur Krone

Afterwards (24-26 August 2010) the final Conference "COST Action Green Care in Agriculture" took place in Witzenhausen. Further information: