Potential of Including Social Farming Initiatives within Agroecological Transition in Hungarian Farms

Abstract

Abstract The European Model of Agriculture has been developed based on multifunctional agriculture that plays an essential role in increasing the vitality of rural areas in Europe. The agroecological approach is strongly related to multifunctional agriculture as well as social farming that is unique for visualising the social aspect of sustainability in agriculture. This paper aims to explore and evaluate the awareness and attitude of Hungarian farmers, based on indicators derived from in-depth interviews focused on agroecological transition, in order to identify possible spaces for social farming initiatives. For this purpose, the indicators are analysed using the existing 10 elements of agroecology created by FAO as a reference point. The aim of this analysis is to understand which basic element-related practices are preferred, whether social elements are included or not, and to determine which areas need to be strengthened in education in order to encourage farmers to be open to addressing social issues. The results of the research confirm indicators which are present in the daily practices of those farms that do not necessarily identify themselves as social farms. In addition to their willingness to potentially transition to agroecological systems, they have the basic elements and attitude to adopt social farming.