[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/9203\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EGreen shoots for a greying countryside \u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFarming is an ancient profession. But a problem in Europe is that the farmers themselves are getting old. From the more than ten million farm managers, one-third were over the age of 65 in 2016. Another one-quarter were 55 and over, while only 11% were under 40 years of age.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIt is clear that rural areas need to halt population declines and attract new generations. To turn back the tide and regenerate rural areas, social scientists are unearthing how and why some rural areas are growing and performing better than others.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EFarmers are getting old and mostly male. About 13% of farmland is managed by female farmers.\r\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EWillem Korthals Altes, professor of land development at TU Delft, Netherlands.\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThis will reveal how farming can seed a new crop of young farmers, as well as encourage green shoots in rural communities, and transform them into more attractive places to live and work.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Farmers are getting old and mostly male. About 13% of farmland is managed by female farmers,\u0027 said Willem Korthals Altes, land development professor at TU Delft in the Netherlands. \u2018There is also an issue of declining rural regions, and this all needs new policies.\u2019\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESpecifically, Professor Korthals Altes has examined the aspirations of young people in rural and urban areas in 12 different countries and looked at what actions could be taken to attract newcomers to the countryside as part of the four-year EU-wide \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/817642\u0022\u003ERURALIZATION\u003C\/a\u003E research project. Prof. Korthals Altes and his team have interviewed about 2,000 young people in 20 regions of the EU about their hopes for the future. One surprise was that many people, in cities and the countryside, would like to live in rural areas, often for quality-of-life reasons.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe project aims to identify paths to overcome population and economic decline in rural Europe and seed new opportunities. Right now, the picture painted by statistics is bleak. The EU lost 11% of its farmland between 1993 and 2013, while farms themselves are getting bigger and fewer, which contributes to job losses. \u2018If we look at just the overall statistics, what we found is sad,\u2019 said Prof. Korthals Altes. \u2018So we looked for positive examples that we could learn from and also highlight positive practices.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESpecific case studies have been published, such as an agro-tourism farm in rural Poland set up by newcomers from Warsaw to grow organic crops and run ecological workshops, a community-owned farms group in the Netherlands and a silkworm farm with mulberry trees in Italy.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGrowing trends and recommendations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ERural trends identified in the project included a rise in alternative food systems such as organic farming due to greater environmental awareness. The project also noted changes in gender roles and the diversification of farm businesses and rural economies. Two other trends were digitisation of economic activity and the rise of online markets, which can open the gate to new business opportunities in rural regions.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ENewcomers into rural areas may be especially important for economic revival, because of their higher education, wider network of contacts and tendency to innovate, the study found.\u0026nbsp; It also revealed that organic production has increased significantly in most countries, and that this is one of the most important alternative forms of renewal.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe \u201cyoung farmer problem\u201d is more marked in some countries than others. Just 3.3% of farm managers in Cyprus and 4.2% in Portugal are under 40, while the figure is closer to 20% in Poland and Slovakia. The problems in one country do not match exactly those in another.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBut one common barrier for new entrants to agriculture is access to land, and there is a lack of policies to support people who want to begin farming. \u0027We find policies related to the modernisation agenda of farming, but not much about new entrants to farming,\u0027 said Prof Korthals Altes. The project \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ruralization.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/RURALIZATION_D6.1_Typology-of-actions_v2.0-5.pdf\u0022\u003Ereported on\u003C\/a\u003E some 64 access to land practices, from partners to the project, that can contribute to rural generation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ENo EU Member States have elaborate policies and legal arrangements for providing access to land, according to Korthals Altes. \u0027The per hectare direct payments that a farmer gets for holding the land in good agricultural condition are in most EU regions higher than the rent, which works out negatively for new entrants,\u0027 notes Korthals Altes. \u0027It is a better retirement plan to keep your land with the direct payments, than to rent it out to new farmers.\u0027 Nonetheless, under changes to the new Common Agricultural Policy announced last December, there will be additional support for young farmers\u0027 income, such as national authorities having to direct 2% of local income support to them and young farmers being prioritised to receive basic payments.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EKorthals Altes now plans discussions with stakeholders and for the project to draw up recommendations for rural renewal that local governments and agencies can tap into.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EWe know digital communications influence the social behaviour of young people and they show more support for ecological farming. But we don\u2019t know how they influence their choice of farming as a career option.\r\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr \u0130lkay Unay-Gailhardat, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development, Germany\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe most obvious recommendation is to make a future in agriculture attractive to young farmers and new entrants. However, a lack of interest among young people to work in the farming sector is a common phenomenon for developed economies, and many don\u2019t look on farming as a prestigious career option, according to Dr \u0130lkay Unay-Gailhard at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Germany.\u0026nbsp; \u0027When we ask the young people about their image of farming, they state its low income, hard physical work and low prestige,\u0027 she explained.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENo lack of interest\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBut this should not be misunderstood as a lack of interest in agriculture, as seen in the frequent protests by young people against industrial farming practices.\u0026nbsp; \u2018We know digital communications influence the social behaviour of young people and they show more support for ecological farming,\u2019 said Dr Unay-Gailhard.\u0026nbsp; \u2018But we don\u2019t know how they influence their choice of farming as a career option.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAwarded an EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Fellowship for her a research project \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/895185\u0022\u003EYoung Farmers\u003C\/a\u003E, she will interview dozens of young farmers in the US and in Germany about their personal history and about how digital communication messages influenced their career option.\u0026nbsp; She believes that there is a lack of positive role model images of farmers, and absence of \u201cfarmer and mother\u201d as a role model in family farms.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EDr Unay-Gailhard will also talk to government agencies and non-profit organisations about the use of new media tools - such as interactive online portals, blogs, online agricultural communication and public engagement campaigns and social media services - to assist those at the start of their career and those who might transition towards farming. Career paths are no longer as planned and predictable, and career trajectories can change course. \u2018Young people these days can follow rising opportunities,\u2019 said Dr Unay-Gailhard.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso, how farms are run is shifting. Advanced digital technologies and robotics are making inroads on some farms, and young farmers may be motivated by the more high-tech, innovative approaches to farming.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EDr Unay-Gailhard will recommend to government agencies and farm organisations ways to communicate digitally with young people.\u0026nbsp; The hope is that young people will have better access to information on agricultural careers, and reconsider the benefits on offer from a rural career and lifestyle.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research in this article was funded by the EU. 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