This paper summarises the methods and outcomes of the first German platform within
the European SoFar project (www.sofar-d.de). The national platform took place in May
2007 and aimed to bring forward the development of social farming, to enhance the
exchange between different practitioners, to build a national platform of social farming
stakeholders and find out requirements for further developments and recommendations
for political actions on regional, national or European level. Methods of the discussions
and their analysis are reviewed and the outcomes are presented in a SWOT
analysis summarizing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of social
farming. As a consequence of platform and analysis the “Witzenhausen Position
Paper on the Added Value of Social Farming” in Germany was compiled in a participatory
process with 104 contributers and signatories. Its main points get presented here.
It was written as a call to decision-makers in administration, politics and the public to
support German social agriculture
