About Us

Who we are

Social Farms & Gardens is a UK wide charity supporting communities to farm, garden and grow together.

Our vision and mission

Our vision - people and communities reaching their full potential through nature-based activities as a part of everyday life.
Our mission - to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and the environment through nature-based activities. 

What we do

• Advocate and campaign for greater recognition, funding and opportunities for nature-based activities. We present a united voice for organisations and groups delivering nature-based activities. We influence policy makers and work with partners in the voluntary, public, private and academic sectors to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and the environment. 
• Provide expert advice, support and a free membership scheme to support communities to grow in sustainable ways. We are proud to support thousands of grass root organisations from small fruit and veg plots on urban housing estates to large-scale rural care farms; transforming lives and connecting people.
• Design and deliver innovative training programmes which empower and enable communities to thrive and grow. We provide practical support and training UK wide to thousands of grass roots organisations and groups.
• Forge pathways for our members to access commissioned services and demonstrate that they deliver high quality provision. We promote income generating opportunities for organisations and groups to ensure they can sustain their activities. We promote quality assurance for members to deliver their work with confidence, pride and impact.

Improving People's Lives

Many people assume that community gardens and city or care farms are just nice places to visit where plants are grown and animals kept. But that is far from the whole picture.

Many of them also offer an amazing array of benefits and opportunities, which can include education programmes, play schemes, healthy living initiatives, work and skills training, social enterprises, volunteer opportunities, environmental schemes, horticultural therapy groups, facilities for people with disabilities…the list goes on and on!

Our history

Social Farms & Gardens was formed by the merger of two long established membership-based charities, the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens and Care Farming UK. 

Together, we have a combined history of over 50 years’ experience in advocacy, lobbying, membership growth, support and capacity building, and working with sector partners. By merging, we are able to offer a range of services for members, government and the wider sector. A key strength of Social Farms & Gardens is that we work with and support a diverse membership base across the whole of the UK, working across both urban and rural settings. 

Our members operate across a wide spectrum, offering services including Green Care, community and social based activities. There is often considerable crossover in delivery different settings. For example, a city farm may be involved in both community development and care farming activities. By focussing on the services or activities delivered or facilitated by our members, rather than the physical form upon which our members operate (e.g. a farm, garden, school, orchard), we aim to widen the opportunities open to our members and the wider sector.

Climate change - our position

At Social Farms & Gardens, we believe that man made climate change is a reflection of our separation from the planet that sustains us. From Belfast to Brighton, Skye to Swansea our members are reconnecting individuals with society and society with our planet. We believe that the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and the environment are innately linked. This is why sustainability has always been at the very heart of what we do. We support the vital work of our members with information and advice, enabling them to mitigate the impact of climate change through sustainable farming, gardening and growing. 

• We welcome the campaigning action of other organisations
• We celebrate nature-based activities that benefit the planet 
• We promote innovative approaches to farming, gardening and growing – supporting work that helps to adapt to and mitigate climate change 
• We support our members who are leading the way in doing more with less, using eco-friendly agricultural methods that support biodiversity, and an ethos that serves the public good.