Research
Is care farming the answer to health
and social issues?
Research from Biological Sciences has established a beneficial link
between farming and improved quality of life.
Care farming programmes see commercial farms, woodlands and market
gardens work with health and social care agencies to provide basic farming
activities to improve physical and mental health and well-being of
participants.
With increasing demands on these services within the UK to supply
successful solutions to a wide range of health and social challenges,
including disaffected young people, drug and alcohol abuse, and provide
support to those with learning disabilities, mental health problems and
depression, there is a heightening need for additional options for
rehabilitation, therapy and work training.
Care farming offers a new alternative remedy. The research, by Rachel
Hine, Joanna Peacock and Professor Jules Pretty, demonstrated how farming
activities and the rural environment improve the quality of life for
sufferers of mental health issues and depression, work-related stress,
learning difficulties or those with a drug or alcohol history. The
research also shows that becoming involved with activities on a working
farm can be beneficial to the rehabilitation and re-education of
disaffected youth.
Care farming is a relatively new concept in the UK. However, the total
number of care farm users in the UK currently stands at 5,869 per week,
with most care farms catering for people with learning difficulties.
Evidence from the Netherlands, which has over 800 care farms, has shown
that care farming is the fastest growing farm diversification, allowing
farms to stay economically viable whilst providing a valued health, social
and rehabilitation and educational service to society.
The recently published findings, based on people who have care farms,
clearly show that spending time participating in care farm activities is
effective in enhancing mood and improving self-esteem. Respondents
reported significantly reduced feelings of anger, confusion, depression,
fatigue and tension and increased vigour enabling participants to feel
more active and energetic.
New research centre is a UK first
The UK’s first centre for research in economic sociology - the social
analysis of economic phenomena - has opened at Essex.
'Economic sociology has opened out the research agenda for social
sciences in recent years. The Sociology Department and University has
taken a strategic initiative in supporting this venture,' said Professor
Mark Harvey, its Director.
The Centre for Research on Economic Sociology and Innovation (CRESI)
draws on existing expertise across several departments. Its interests
encompass the study of markets; corporate institutions and business
networks; rights; corporate social responsibility; cultural economy;
welfare regimes and pensions; food and consumption; work and employment;
gender budgeting and fiscal sociology; biotechnology and bioeconomy; and
economies of knowledge. The Centre runs a regular seminar series
attracting interdepartmental participation.
Headed by Professor Mark Harvey who joined the University in September
2007 from the ESRC Centre for Research in Innovation and Competition at
the University of Manchester, CRESI provides an interdisciplinary approach
to the 'big' issues facing the world today.
'The prospect of engaging in challenging new collaborative research,
both historical and comparative, is really exciting. So many of the
interesting research agendas today invite us to break out of existing
moulds, and I look forward to building bridges in this new environment,'
he said.
Professor Harvey has recently published Public or Private Economies
of Knowledge, exploring 'the great divide' between market and
non-market economic processes involved in knowledge production and
distribution.
One of the first projects he will lead is an ESRC-funded study on 'The
Transition to a Sustainable Bio-Economy: Innovation and Expectations.'
Professor Harvey was awarded a £320,000 grant to compare different
trajectories of innovation in Brazil, Europe and the USA.
Scientists investigate marine photosynthesis
Scientists from the Department of Biological Sciences have been awarded
£400,000 to study the effects of phosphorous and iron limitation on
photosynthetic algae crucial to combating global warming.
The project, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, will
involve growing two different species of cyanobacteria – photosynthetic
algae that are able to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere – under different
conditions. Dr Tracy Lawson and Professor Richard Geider and David Nedwell
will study how reductions in phosphorous and iron affect the ability of
the cyanobacteria to fix nitrogen and carry out photosynthesis.
Dr Tracy Lawson, who is leading the project, explained: 'Photosynthesis
by marine algae is important as the ocean can act as a sink for carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere. So, by increasing photosynthesis in the
ocean, we may be able to reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that
is produced by man and counteract global warming.'
The reduction of phosphorous and iron is expected to affect the
photosynthetic structure and function in different ways: iron is required
for certain parts of the photosynthetic electron transport chain while
phosphorous is required for the production of energy and as the building
blocks of nucleic acids and protein.
Because photosynthesis also requires light and carbon dioxide, the
researchers will also alter the light environment and carbon dioxide
concentration that the algae will be grown under. By growing the cultures
in such controlled conditions the researchers will be able to closely
mimic the natural environment. This will be the first time some of these
cultures have been grown in this way.
Dr Lawson added: 'This work will give us information that is vital for
use in mechanistic models that will predict marine responses to climatic
change under different nutrient, light and carbon dioxide regimes.'
Also in the printed March edition of Wyvern:
