Abstract
Korean agriculture has recently focused on the 6th dimension of industrialization, which includes the functions of healing and care. The green care and healing business is one of the most representative models, satisfying modern consumers' needs for care or healing in rural agricultural environments. Many studies have shown physical and social benefits from green care and healing, but studies regarding economic performance are rarely found. The present study aimed to analyze the economic feasibility of different green care and healing farm complexes proposed in recent domestic research, with various possible combinations of business scenarios. The results show that most of the scenarios are economically feasible as B/C (benefit-cost ratio) and IRR (internal rate of return) are 1.19 and 8.53%, respectively, under scenario 1. This study also performed a break-even analysis for providing more flexible decision-making information. Overall, scenario 1 from green care and healing site and scenario 4 from green care and healing cluster are found to be superior to the other scenarios in terms of B/C and IRR. The scenarios in this study reflect the domestic farms or complexes which have similar functions of care or healing. Therefore, the results of this study provide information on practical policies and business implications in making decisions on the specific size and operational patterns when adopting green care and healing complexes by central or local governments and private sectors in the future.
