On Thursday, 5 March 2026, the Youth Articulation of the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), organised an open online training on "Generational Renewal in European agriculture" within the framework of the Reboot project.
The training brought together participants from farmers’ organisations, civil society groups and research institutions to discuss the structural challenges affecting generational renewal in European agriculture and to present ECVC’s political proposals to address them. Participation in the training reflected a strong engagement from the target audience. A total of 55 participants registered, with the majority coming from farmer and peasant organisations. Women represented around 60% of participants, and the majority were young people under 35, reflecting the relevance of the topic for youth and new entrants in agriculture.
The session was based on ECVC’s publication Recommendations for the Action Plan on Generational Renewal and related ECVC policy work on land, the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the implications of digitalisation for peasant agroecology.
The training highlighted that generational renewal should not be understood merely as a demographic issue linked to the retirement of farmers. From ECVC’s perspective, it is a structural political question connected to land concentration, declining farm incomes, market imbalances, working conditions and the organisation of agricultural knowledge systems. Participants discussed how these structural barriers make it difficult for young people and new entrants to establish viable farming activities across Europe.
Several key policy areas identified by ECVC were presented during the session. These include the need to guarantee long-term access to land for young farmers, including through stronger regulation of land markets and the proposal for a European Directive on Agricultural Land; ensuring fair prices and dignified incomes for farmers through improved market regulation; improving working and living conditions in rural areas; reforming the Common Agricultural Policy so that it better supports young farmers and new entrants; and strengthening training and knowledge exchange systems centred on peasant agroecology and farmer-to-farmer learning.
The discussion also addressed the role of digitalisation in agriculture and the importance of ensuring that new technologies support farmers’ autonomy rather than increasing dependency on external systems. Participants emphasised that generational renewal is closely linked to the transmission of knowledge between generations and to strengthening agroecological farming practices.
The session concluded with an open discussion where participants shared experiences from different countries regarding access to land, the attractiveness of farming for young people and the role of public policies in supporting new entrants to agriculture.
The recording of the training is now available on ECVC’s YouTube channel.
ECVC warmly thanks all participants for their contributions and the Youth Articulation for their work in preparing the session. Ensuring generational renewal remains a key priority for ECVC, as the future of European agriculture depends on creating the political and economic conditions for a new generation of farmers committed to food sovereignty and peasant agroecology.
Please see all background documents relevant to the webinar here:
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