Advanced training for caring services at the farm

For more than ten years some regional agricultural training and extension centers in cooperation with a college of social studies offer an advanced training on «green care» (caring services at the farm). The regional trainings differ in their duration and in the orientation to one or several focus groups of people to be taken care of – according to the regional context. All offers are striving for the same goal: competency development for a high quality care of «guest persons» in the own family under professional coaching of a recognized organisation. The regional trainings are based on the same values and quality criteria that are stipulated in a commonly formulated Charta. In most of the regions, the graduates started to form quality circles to share and reflect their own experience. From all over Switzerland, the agricultural extension staffs (women) engaged in this training meet annually to coordinate, reflect and further develop the training concept. In several regions of Switzerland, caring services at the farm have evolved into an important element in the puzzle of the farming system. Not only is caring at the farm financially important, it also has a major impact on the daily rhythm and the presence at home of the farming family. Knowledge and learning from experience are the source of this report – reflecting practical experience understood as a special form of research.