Files
Abstract
Agriculture seems to be capable to foster rehabilitation, work integration
and social inclusion of vulnerable people: persons with mental disabilities, people
with burn out, long-term unemployed, individuals with an addiction history, and so
on.
"Social farms", i.e. farms that provide these kind of services, are present in several
European countries and their number is growing. The emerging interest of an
increasing number of consumers for the "ethical quality" of products suggests that the
social functions of these farms could be remunerated, although partially, by the
market.
The paper discusses the issues mentioned above and focuses on some empirical
evidence on consumers' beliefs and attitude about social farms' products. Data are
collected through a survey based on interviews that focus on: the degree of
knowledge and the general interest on the subject; the willingness to buy social
farms' products and the conditions under which their purchase could be taken into
consideration. More in details, the presence of significant differences in consumers'
attitude and behavior are tested, and factors that affect such different demand
segments are explored.