Generational change in agriculture is high on the EU’s policy agenda for achieving the ecological transition (1). Currently, the phenomenon encounters various economic, educational and social barriers. Providing an analysis of the causes and consequences of reduced access of young people to the agricultural profession can help in defining the necessary requirements for possible public policy reform useful in reversing the course toward a more robust and sustainable agriculture (2).
Introduction
In 2021, agricultural enterprises represented a significant part of the national production fabric with 12 percent of the total number of farms (about 733 thousand farms) (3).
In recent years, however, we are witnessing a gradual downsizing of the agricultural production fabric: the size of agricultural enterprises has decreased, from 2016 to 2021 by 31 percent i.e., nearly 4,000 enterprises have been lost.
UAA (usable agricultural area) also decreased by 2.5 percent (4), and at the same time Italian farms increased their share of land by becoming larger on the model of EU farms.
The figure that emerges as most interesting, however, is the presence of a generational imbalance in the sector, average values in the EU indicate that most farmers (56 percent) are over the age of 55, about 30 percent are over retirement age, and less than 6 percent are under the age of 35 (5).
Why is generational change in agriculture important?
The establishment of young people in agriculture plays a key role in the development of stronger, alternative value chains to conventional ones, as they are more open to new stimuli and new knowledge in agriculture such as agroecology.
Young people also conceive of the farm not only as a center for generating products from the earth, but as a place where value can be generated in a multiplicity of ways.
Current issues on generational turnover
A general difficulty has emerged for young agricultural entrepreneurs to start agricultural enterprises. In fact, a number of factors coexist that block generational turnover in agriculture and can be attributed to various areas first and foremost the economic one with the difficulty of accessing credit to start a business but also bureaucratic up to training.
The main problems facing young people for first entry into Italian agriculture to date are mainly as follows.
1) Access to land
The cost of renting and buying arable land in Italy ranks among the highest in the EU.
The average cost of one hectare of land for rent is €837 (ranked first in EU) while purchase averages around €21 thousand (ranked third in EU) (6).
One possible resource is state-owned public lands that have been put up for sale because they are in a state of abandonment and/or disuse. On the other hand, the tools to access these lands are few and inadequate.
One of these is the Land Bank managed by Ismea (7), the public land access bank contains some lands of the Institute and of regions and local governments that ISMEA makes available for purchase at auction.
In the last five editions of the public lands call, 320 pieces of land totaling about 12,000 hectares have been allocated to companies, each company has an average area of 37 hectares, and the cost is around €10,000/ha. Thus, these are overgrown lands that are unaffordable for a first settlement.
2) Start-up costs
Adding to the cost of buying or renting the land are the costs of starting up the business.
These costs are particularly high and in many cases require financing or loans, but these are disbursed with extreme difficulty due to the volatility of prices and the impossibility of making concrete long-term forecasts characteristic of the primary sector.
3) Policies to support generational change
Current policies to support generational change find some space in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and in particular Pillar II on Rural Development.
Actions taken by the CAP
The CAP allocates in the 2023-27 programming about 1 billion euros, or 3 percent total of direct payments, and it is increasing, in fact, until the last programming it amounted to 2 percent.
The most relevant CAP measures for generational turnover are the support
- income supplement for young farmers,
- to investment,
- For the first settlement.
However, the first two measures tend to increase the socioeconomic sustainability of farms after young farmers have started up, rather than contributing to farm succession while the third is insufficient to cover start-up costs. In addition, the CAP’s generational replacement measures are not well adapted to genuine takeovers for young people from non-agricultural backgrounds.
Thus, the CAP funds analyzed are not a tool for generational change but for supporting young agriculture (8).
Supporting cooperation for generational renewal
On the other hand, a new tool introduced by CAP 2023-27 that bodes well is support for cooperation for generational renewal.
The intervention is aimed at fostering the development of youth entrepreneurship in agriculture through forms of flanking and cooperation between farmers over 65 or retired and young people, who do not own farmland, for the purpose of the gradual transition of farm business management to young people.
Support is granted to farmers who have reached retirement age and who enter into a side-by-side contract with young people under 40, including those in partnership.
The shadowing contract commits the senior farmer to transfer his skills to the young person, on the other hand, the young person to contribute directly to the management, including manual management, of the enterprise, d’accord with the owner and as agreed to the business plan submitted jointly with the shadowing contract when submitting the application.
4) Bureaucratic barriers
A strong bureaucratic barrier is the requirements to apply for CAP funds.
The funds provided, in most Italian regions, are in fact allocated only if the beneficiary already qualifies as a IAP (Imprenditore agricolo professionale) a fact that requires full-time practice.
The other critical bureaucratic aspect is the need to submit a business plan at the time of application in which a projection of the business that will be started and the expected earnings must be drawn up.
The projection is based on standard production parameter, consequently forcing the applicant to overestimate future earnings.
5) Poor access to knowledge
Although the level of training of young agricultural entrepreneurs under 35has increased over time throughout Europe, access to knowledge and advice is still considered insufficient. In 2016, only 43 percent of young farm managers at the EU level had experience beyond practice, compared with an overall average value of 32 percent (9).
Most under-40swho want to enter the agricultural sector, after all, have a different educational background from agriculture.
Conclusion
Opening a farming business in Italy today is easily granted only to the under-40children of farmers with an intergenerational, that is, family-to-family turnover that does not require any facilitation tool.
Instead, the problems faced by all non-farmers’ children are many but must be read as needs in order to foster change in favor of generational change in agriculture.
Ensuring the entry of young people into agriculture is of primary importance to encourage the introduction of new production methods and practices such as agroecological production, which impact less on the environment and support the development of a healthy economy in the primary sector (10).
Giulia Pietrollini
Cover cartoon by François Frapar, Feb. 12, 2007 http://frapardessindepresse.blogspot.com/2007/02/le-bonheur-est-dans-le-pr-d-ct_8176.html?m=1
Notes
(1) Alessandra Mei. Ecological transition and innovation, what opportunities in Italy? GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.1.23
(2) Dario Dongo. National pesticide action plan, sustainable agriculture and NRP. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 4.2.22
(3) Farms in Italy economic and production results, structural, social and environmental characteristics. Rica 2021 report | 2016-2019 period https://rica.crea.gov.it/le-aziende-agricole-in-italia-rapporto-rica-2021-803.php
(4) Istat. 7th General Census of Agriculture: first results https://www.istat.it/it/files//2022/06/REPORT-CENSIAGRI_2021-def.pdfENSIAGRI_2021-def.pdf (istat.it) 28.11.22
(5) European network for rural development, Young people and generational change, https://enrd.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/enrd_publications/publi-eafrd-brochure-08-it_2019.pdf
(6) Eurostat-Agricultural land prices: huge variation across the EU – Products Eurostat News. Eurostat https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/ddn-20211130-2
(7) https://www.ismea.it/banca-delle-terre
(8) Dario Dongo. Common Agricultural Policy, what controls on member states’ management? Question. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.4.23
(9) Planet RDP – Youth, the role of CAP in generational turnover http://www.pianetapsr.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/2552
Graduated in industrial biotechnology and passionate about sustainable development.
