Social Farms as Social Enterprises in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Background: Social entrepreneurship has grown in popularity in the Czech Republic over the last few decades as a solution to the demand for long-term, socially responsible drivers of economic growth. As part of social entrepreneurship, social farming combines social services and the opportunity for work integration in a farm setting. This article employs EMES methodology to the study of social farming in the Czech Republic.Research objectives: Drawing on the findings of 15 case studies, the author analyses social farming in the context of the EMES model with a focus on the organisation and principal goals of Czech social farms.Research design and methods: The theoretical part is based on a review of the literature on social economy, social entrepreneurship, and social farming. The case study report that follows employs mixed data sets such as interviews, field notes, information gathered from publicly available sources, brochures, organisation laws, annual reports, newspaper articles and other media reports, as well as data from a variety of registers. Results: From a normative standpoint, social farming and social farms in the Czech Republic are comparable to those in Europe, but they are fewer in number and are subject to distinct regulation. Institutionally speaking, only social farms registered as institutes (zapsaný ústav) meet the EMES social enterprise criteria. Czech social farms are known for their emphasis on craftsmanship, tradition, volunteerism, strong bonds with a particular location, ecology, links with direct suppliers, solidarity, and non-monetary trade.