ECVC welcomes the EU strategy for generational renewal in agriculture

ECVC welcomes the recognition that the lack of fair prices above production costs, including remunerative incomes and the struggle to access and retain land are key barriers for young farmers and new entrants. Yet, the strategy fails to outline the necessary steps to achieve fair prices that cover production costs and provide fair incomes. A longstanding demand of ECVC is the implementation of market regulation to achieve this goal. The repeated omission of this vital demand — both in the strategy and in the proposed minor revision of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) and the new CAP— represents a critical blind spot and a contradiction in the Commission’s proposals.

When it comes to access to land, ECVC welcomes the analysis of the Commission that market and legal failures, speculative acquisitions, land grabbing as well as insecure tenure systems are at the roots of land inequalities and youth struggles to access farmland. ECVC welcomes the proposed European Land Observatory as a good first step towards unveiling land injustices in Europe. For the Observatory to be effective, it is important that its governance be participatory, with farmers' organisations included in an advisory committee.

Furthermore, the inclusion of the Strategy in the European Semester is a positive sign that can finally help push Member States to discuss land regulation mechanisms that are best suited to ensuring fair redistribution of agricultural land, such as pre-emptive rights for young people, women and agroecology, capping the number of hectares that can be used and, above all, public control over the allocation of agricultural land. To guarantee secure and long-term access to land for young people, we need regulation of land markets through a European Land Directive.

Moreover, ECVC is concerned to see that carbon farming, renewable energy production and bioeconomy are encouraged as sources of income diversification because these approaches further aggravate land accumulation and financialisation. The emphasis the Commission puts on digitalisation and new technologies is also a concern. While these technologies have the potential to enhance agricultural practices, their current implementation often serves as a tool for corporate concentration. Large agribusinesses, backed by free-trade agreements and inadequate public policies, use digitalisation to consolidate control over food production and distribution, marginalising small-scale farmers and threatening food sovereignty.

ECVC also welcomes the call for mandatory national strategies on generational renewal in agriculture. However, there are several criticalities linked to the transfer of responsibilities to Member States, as this would increase disparities within the common market. ECVC also criticises the absence of any mention of Agroecology in the strategy. Increasing agroecological production is functional to both enable generational renewal and transition from a capital-intensive agriculture model to a more sustainable agriculture model, compatible with ecological and social boundaries. An agroecological transition will require doubling the number of European farmers.

Incidentally, the proposed post-2027 CAP reform is contradictory to the objectives set by the Commission. Area-based payments are among the leading causes of difficulties in accessing land as they drive land concentration, and they are central to the CAP proposal. The second pillar was also the most relevant for ensuring living rural areas. Still, its integration into a single fund and the uncertainties due to co-financing will further complicate attracting youth to the countryside.

Paola Laini, member of ECVC Coordinating Committee and the ECVC Youth Articulation, insisted: “To ensure generational renewal, we need a CAP that ensures market regulation to deliver fair prices through a major CMO reform to be put at the core of the CAP. The UTP directive must also be revised to include prices paid below production costs on the black list of unfair practices. The CAP must be a redistributive policy, hectare-based payments must be capped, and the then freed up budget must be allocated to young farmers and small farmers through payments per farmer.” The generational renewal challenge is of utmost importance, and it goes hand in hand with stopping the disappearance of farms in Europe.