The European Commission announced its Strategy for Generational Renewal in Agriculture on the 21 October. The strategy aims to provide support for the next generation of farmers and attract more people to farming. 

The strategy contains some positive elements addressing key aspects of Euromontana’s position paper on generational renewal, in particular the focus on targeted support for young farmers, new entrants and women in agriculture. However, a mere recommendation of 6% of agricultural spending in the next MFF will not be enough to safeguard the next generation of mountain farmers. Without guaranteed and dedicated funding for young farmers, the target of doubling the current 12% share of young farmers in the EU to 24% by 2040 is unlikely to be achieved. The EU must therefore deliver real financial commitments to ensure that farming is attractive proposition for the next generation, alongside fair and decent incomes for farmers in mountain areas.

Euromontana welcomes the announcement of an EU Land Observatory but highlights that there is a lack of dedicated measures for land abandonment, which remains a key challenge for mountain areas, where the risk of land abandonment is 3 times higher than lowland areas.

Despite a sole reference to the additional challenges of remote areas in the strategy, Euromontana regrets the absence of measures which are specifically tailored to areas with natural constraints, such as mountain territories. A lack of generational renewal in mountain agriculture remains both a symptom and a cause of the shrinking vitality of mountain territories, and a signal that the additional challenges of generational renewal in mountain agriculture remain underrecognized at political level.

Euromontana reiterates the need to strengthen financial support for generational renewal in the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy. This should include a reinforced and dedicated envelope for generational renewal, going beyond current direct payments and installation aid, together with the earmarking of 15% of the CAP budget for Areas with Natural Constraints (ANC). In mountain areas, where farm incomes are around 20% lower than in lowlands and where the risk of land abandonment remains high, these measures must go beyond compensating natural handicaps to actively support farm establishment and succession.  

A fair share of these resources should specifically target young, new and women farmers through higher top-ups and investment aid in ANC areas, helping to make farm succession and establishment economically viable. Such targeted support would both safeguard the continuity of agricultural activity and make mountain farming a more attractive and sustainable career path for the next generation. 

Agriculture is a true mainstay of mountain areas. Euromontana highlights the need for the remaining measures to be further integrated into the Commission’s proposal for the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy, and for further cooperation with the Member States and regions to work together to improve access to land, credit, knowledge and rural services, as well as generally improving the living and working conditions of the farmers who feed us.