Demand for social farming services in Latvia: dementia care in Rūjiena municipality

The aim of the study is to explore potential demand for social care services offered by social farming in Latvia by studying the experience of families caring for family members with dementia. Social farming is both a new and a traditional concept. It originates from the traditional rural self-help networks that were well established in rural areas before the modernisation of agriculture and the rise of the public welfare system. Social agriculture covers at least three dynamic areas of society – rural development, social entrepreneurship and the growing demand for social care services, and it is closely linked to the concept of multifunctional agriculture. As a form of social entrepreneurship, social farming could create the opportunity to reconnect farmers with their local communities through the opening of their farms as part of the social support system of the community. Caring for people with dementia is a particular challenge. Currently in Latvia, families where one of the family members has dementia have only two options - to place their relatives in a care institution or to take care of them in the family. Foreign experience shows that social care farms can provide care services to people with early dementia. This paper, exploring demand for these services in Latvia, is based on the case study of families caring for persons with dementia in Rūjiena municipality in April 2020.