P-07/04 Green Care services on farms –characteristics of Norwegian enterprises.

This paper was first presented at the Nordic Conference on Small Buisiness, Tromsø, June 2004 Green Care is a term covering welfare services provided on farms for the purposes of health care, work training, child care or education. In Norway such services have been developing over the last 10-15 years, and are part of a general trend where farmers are developing new business alternatives supplementary to traditional food and fibre production. An increasing market for private welfare service alternatives is also part of the picture. The purpose of this article is to explore the characteristics of Norwegian Green Care enterprises. Based upon an entrepreneurship approach, the study intends to identify the major perceived opportunities, resources and motivations within Green Care services. The analysis is based upon material from a recent national survey. The findings are compared to similar studies in other countries and within other branches. The article gives an overview of types of Green Care services, activities and economics within this type of business. The article also reveals the balance between positive and negative motives for Green Care entrepreneurship, the combination of personal and material resources being used and identified markets for Green Care services.