FarmAbility supports 50 learning disabled and autistic adults in Oxfordshire to become co-farmers at four working farms in the county,. We deliver 60+ sessions each week with groups supported by experienced staff to get involved in a wide range of farming jobs, helping develop skills, reduce loneliness and improve health. We are all about providing engaging, meaningful activity in natural and farm based environments, with opportunities to build confidence, make friends and have a lot of fun!

We are based in Oxfordshire and from our initial base in Wytham we have expanded and adapted our delivery to offer programmes across five core farm sites in Oxfordshire, as well as a number of other farm and nature-based projects that we visit on an occasional outreach basis. As we approach our 10-year anniversary, after weathering a variety of adverse situations and proving our resilience and ability to adapt, we are planning a significant phase of expansion and transition, to enable us to offer our service to more people, on more sites and with stronger foundations and structures underpinning it.

Over the next few years we aspire to create more day session opportunities on more sites across Oxfordshire, to reduce the barriers to people accessing the amazing opportunities that care-farming offers. We want to recruit around 20 new volunteers to support our staff team, to ensure our staffing and support ratios remain strong. We aim to increase the offer to our co-farmers, bringing in more craft, cookery and event-based activities to our programme and to build on opportunities to collaborate with other, like-minded organisations.

"Coming to the farm gives me a sense of belonging, it is a therapeutic and peaceful environment which helps me forget about my epilepsy. [...] When I get home from a day at FarmAbility I feel as though I have been smiling all day. You make me feel really special." Hannah, co-farmer.

See below a video generously made for us by a previous funder!