SOCIAL FARMING – INTRODUCTION OF THE CONCEPT AND THE CURRENT SITUATION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Historically, agriculture always fulfilled a social function as well. However, its intensification taking place in the 20th century brought about a number of changes accompanied by putting this and a number of other non-productive functions in the shade. However, recent years have seen the establishment of agricultural directions that contribute to their renewal. This also includes social farming. Social farming is the most complex component of the concept “green care”. In its current form, it creates room for providing for the people who have hardly any chances on the labour market and for their involving in farming activities. While in a number of European countries this concept has been used for many years, in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe it has still been in the early stages and has not been formally defined in many countries yet. In the Czech Republic, the concept of social farming has been developed approximately since 2013, growing and gaining in importance continuously. The article introduces the concept of social farming and describes its current situation in the Czech Republic. The data were obtained through questionnaire surveys and directed interviews in the field. As part of the analysis of the structure of social farming in the Czech Republic, the selected set of thirty entities involved in social farming is described in terms of the structure of the farming production, the main target groups of clients and the funding sources.