New ideas for an old industry: innovations in agriculture
Rural Youth Europe, a member organisation of the European Youth Forum, is working to support young farmers in rural areas. COCOREADO, one of the organisation's projects, aims to help young farmers by creating moments of empowerment and facilitating coordination and knowledge sharing between them. Through collaboration and coordination, COCOREADO can support the next generation of farmers to build a sustainable and thriving agricultural sector for the future. Supporting young farmers is crucial for the future of our food system and the sustainability of our planet.
If it’s true that artificial intelligence is taking over some of the repetitive tasks of our daily jobs, it’s also true that we will have more time to focus on what we really value as a society. Then we can widely agree that our health and the health of our planet should be prioritised, and this is where farmers play a crucial role. Farmers are responsible for producing the food that nourishes us, and they must also take care of our lands and find ways to be sustainable in the long term.
However, with the world's population continuing to grow, so too does the demand for food and better nutrition. As the agricultural sector is expected to play a vital role in meeting these demands, it faces many challenges, particularly in attracting young people, to compensate for the ageing of the farmer population.
But what is it that’s preventing young people from becoming farmers? Rural Youth Europe, a member organisation of the European Youth Forum, is addressing this and other questions, as they are working to support young people in rural areas who are in the agricultural sector.
One of the most significant challenges faced by young farmers is the lack of coordination and knowledge sharing. This is often compounded by financial constraints, limited access to land, and the need to adapt to new technologies in the face of climate change. Access to information is often more difficult in rural areas, which can create further barriers for young farmers.
Rural Youth Europe seeks to bridge these gaps and provide young farmers with the resources and support they need to succeed in the sector. The organisation provides international training possibilities and works as an intermediary between national organisations, youth organisations and European institutions. In a recent chat with Tomas da Cruz Machado, project officer at Rural Youth Europe and one of the managers of the COCOREADO project, he discussed how the organisation and their projects aim at empowering young farmers by creating moments of empowerment.
COCOREADO supports many different good practices from all around europe: for example, farmers in Slovenia, who are providing food to schools while explaining how it was produced, and the development of a “Foodhub” in Albania to collect the products of many farmers and help them package in a cohesive and sustainable way. In Spain, thanks to COCOREADO, students can go to visit a farm during the science classes, where a farmer can show them agricultural processes and explain how food production happens. This project allows to create better coordination channels for farmers across Europe, organising field trips and sharing knowledge between them. To attract more young people to the agricultural sector, it is important to create a stronger international community that promotes common good practices. By sharing knowledge and experiences, young farmers can learn how to be economically sustainable and successful in their farming endeavours. A supportive international community can provide the resources and networks needed to overcome challenges such as limited access to land, financial constraints, and adapting to new technologies. Through collaboration and coordination, projects like COCOREADO can empower the next generation of farmers to build a sustainable and thriving agricultural sector for the future.
According to Tomas, young farmers need assistance in creating a network that provides the right support system for them to initiate their careers. Despite the efforts of the European Institutions, currently young farmers face many difficulties in accessing lands. This means that the instruments developed by the EU within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are not enough to support the financial availability, the knowledge sharing and support between generations and the burden of long working hours and harsh working conditions.
The COCOREADO project encourages young people in rural areas to get together and co-create innovative solutions that overcome practical everyday issues that farmers face. By involving young people in the project, Rural Youth Europe hopes to engage the next generation of farmers and ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector.
Supporting young farmers is crucial for the future of our food system and the sustainability of our planet. Da Cruz Machado stresses that this requires strong decentralised support systems and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. so that the needs of young farmers are being prioritised and put at the heart of agricultural policies. “By investing in young farmers,” he says, “we can build a sustainable and equitable food system that nourishes us and protects our planet for generations to come.”
