Green care governance: between market, policy and intersecting social worlds

Green care – the utilisation of farms as the basis for health services – is seen as a promising addition to other health services, and it is seen as a viable diversification strategy for many farm families. However, the number of such services is low both in Norway and in Europe in general. The development of green care seems to have stagnated. This paper seeks to analyze and discuss the case of Norwegian green care in order to reflect on the hindrances to the further development of a viable green care sector.

The paper analyzes the green care market, green care policies and the interaction of social worlds that are necessary to make the green care sector function smoothly.

The conclusion is that there is a sound basis for a green care market and that there are sufficient political support and political engagement for the development of green care in Norway. The problem with the green care sector is the interaction between the “social worlds” involved in the sector – the suppliers/farmers, the users, and the (public sector) buyers. It is argued that the development of a green care market is hampered by the lack of an institutional framework and a set of market devices capable of bringing key actors together.

The paper presents an analysis of the Norwegian green care sector. It shows that there are substantial cross‐national differences between health service systems, and therefore comparisons between nations are difficult. However, the principal challenges – diverse social groups, the lack of institutional frames, and immature markets – are shared. Therefore, the need for further research is evident and there are lessons to be learned from cross‐national comparison and case studies.

Within the green care research field, there have been few social science studies that address organisational issues and the governance of this new and emerging business. Theoretically oriented and analytical contributions on organisational aspects of green care services are therefore timely. This paper is such a contribution.