• Farmwell aims to improve the mental, physical, and social well-being of farmers through access to social innovation solutions.
• We understand social innovation as the response or solution that each farmer or group of farmers proposes to their problems and that can serve as motivation and inspiration for the rest of the group.
• Farmwell is a European Thematic Network project funded by Horizon 2020

The word "innovation," so often sought after today, is usually associated with "technological" innovation in the field of agriculture and livestock. However, social innovation is also gaining increasing importance in the agricultural sector, as it is aimed at addressing broader social problems and offering solutions to improve the well-being of farmers and ranchers.

Aligned with this cause, the “Farmwell ” Project was born , a European thematic network of Horizon 2020 , which aims to improve the mental, physical and social well-being of farmers by making accessible to them social innovations that have been able to address common social challenges within the group.

Social innovation is understood as a set of strategies aimed at generating ideas and projects to address structural problems. In the case of the Farmwell Project, these projects seek to address mental health issues and depression, isolation, physical risks at work, stress caused by negative social perceptions or the lack of generational change regarding the farm they own, and gender issues in rural areas.

Methodology

Farmwell operates on the ground in six countries through so-called practice groups : multi-stakeholder platforms where farmers and ranchers are involved at all stages of the project, and through which direct dialogue and exchanges between different groups are fostered. This allows partner countries and other stakeholders to identify key challenges and social problems, as well as appropriate solutions that can help address them.

Farmers are the main focus of the practice groups; however, other stakeholders, such as researchers, social organizations, and NGOs, also participate.

The project also uses the concept of a “solution tree” to define key objectives (addressing challenges) and identify innovative solutions (social innovations) to address the root causes of the problems.

How can we determine the social impact of the solutions we find? To understand the costs and benefits of proposed social innovation practices, Farmwell uses the Social Return on Investment (SROI) method to measure the social impact of selected cases in each country.

The six member countries of the project are Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Romania.

In short, this project addresses the challenges of working in the agricultural sector head-on. And, thanks to it, innovative practices that improve the profession can be learned. On its website, you can find real-life cases of farmers in Europe using social innovation methodologies that inspire and empower.