To expand employment opportunities for the mentally disabled in Korea A study on the introduction of care farms in the European Union

The purpose of this study is to develop Care Farms, which are stably operated in most countries in the European Union, as a policy measure to expand employment opportunities for the disabled, which is a key task of the 6th Basic Plan for Employment Promotion and Vocational Rehabilitation of the Disabled (2023-2027). This is to examine institutional measures that can be introduced in Korea to achieve integrated community care for the mentally disabled. Care farms, which operate in most countries in the European Union, are agricultural and welfare functions that promote physical and mental health, education and training, jobs and employment, care, and improvement of quality of life for socially vulnerable people, including the mentally disabled. It is a concept that comprehensively refers to social agriculture. In Korea, where the current policy roadmap for social farms is insufficient, we would like to study institutional utilization plans for the introduction of care farms.In order to achieve this purpose, this study reviews laws and previous studies related to care farms and analyzes literature data as the main research method, and conducts a case study on one domestic care farm practice site to determine ways to utilize care farms for integrated care for the mentally disabled. I would like to present. As a result of the study, in order to operate a care farm that can continuously raise funds and utilize it for the care of the mentally disabled in the Korean context, the farm must be structured to generate profits through vocational rehabilitation. Additionally, there is a need to create a customized residential space near the farm, equipped with housing for independent living and community facilities for healing and vocational education activities. In other words, mentally disabled people provide labor as workers on farms, receive wages, and use those wages to achieve independent living and residence. In a comprehensive care farm where the farm and residential space are separated, people with mental disabilities will be able to settle into a care service that integrates production, consumption, and service support by generating income while using housing and healing services.