On Thursday 19 October, the European Parliament called on the European Commission to evaluate, in conjunction with the Member States and their regions, the possibility of action at EU level, including through legislative instruments and the promotion of sharing best practices, to “improve the functioning of national farmland markets, enhance young farmers’ access to land and contribute to addressing land concentration and land grabbing issues”.
In adopting (447 votes in favour, 14 against and 7 abstentions) the report by Isabel Carvalhais (S&D, Portuguese) on generational renewal on farms (see EUROPE 13253/11), MEPs called on the Commission to establish an EU observatory on farmland, as part of the Rural Observatory, and, while making best use of all existing data collection tools, in particular from Member States, to monitor and share data on, in particular, trends and prices for land sale and rental, tenancy regimes, land concentration, as well as changes in farmland use and land abandonment.
In 2020, only 11.9% of farm managers in the European Union were under the age of 40, Ms Carvalhais lamented during the debate.
“We call on the Member States to develop coherent, long-term strategies to encourage the renewal of generations, combining different measures such as financial support for the installation of young farmers, tax incentive policies and measures to improve the links between European policies and policies at national and regional level”, advocated the rapporteur, who also asked the Member States to promote better regulation and increase the transparency of land markets.
“We need access to land and access to finance. We should also allow the right to trial”, suggested Anne Sander (EPP, French). To meet the challenges and make a success of the transitions, there is one condition: “Let’s stop losing farmers”, said Jérémy Decerle (Renew Europe, French). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)