Across Europe, the farming population is aging while fewer farms find successors. This comparative overview compiles insights from several countries to identify common patterns behind the slowdown in generational renewal. It shows that the challenge is not only demographic: land prices, concentration of ownership, and insufficiently targeted public support make entry into farming difficult. By highlighting shared barriers and emerging policy approaches, the publication aims to support discussion on how agricultural policies and land governance can enable a new generation of farmers.
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Does a land value tax really improve access to land? Denmark is often cited as a model—but its land tax does little to curb speculation or help new farmers. Discover what Europe can learn from the Danish case.
In the heart of the Vosges, the Runtzenbach family’s organic farm faces a generational crossroads. This intimate documentary follows their struggle to preserve a legacy that could shape tomorrow’s agriculture—one seed at a time.
Access to Land Network and FIAN joint contribution to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
FIAN Europe and the Access to Land Network have submitted a joint contribution to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. The text highlights how land concentration, speculation and policy gaps in Europe restrict access to land for small-scale and agroecological farmers, putting the right to food at risk. The organisations call for rights-based land governance aligned with UNDROP to protect rural communities and future generations.
A new Erasmus+ collaboration between the School of Shepherds of Catalonia and CFPPA Ariège-Comminges has produced EcoPastos, a 12-unit training module for sustainable mountain grazing. All teaching materials are available online in four languages, supporting the training of more than 120 future shepherds in the coming years.
France uses a dense set of local rules and institutions to shape who can buy, lease, and farm agricultural land. A new DEFIBIO project note outlines how tools like SAFER’s market oversight, the control of farm structures, and regional SDREA priority rules interact in practice. Together, they influence everyday access to land, from pre-empting sales to assessing farm takeover applications and regulating company share acquisitions under the Sempastous Law.
The Access to Land Country Report on Bulgaria explores how three decades of rapid liberalisation have reshaped the country’s agricultural landscape.
As part of the Access to Land Network’s ongoing work to document farmland access and land policy across Europe, two new country reports examine how land governance in Poland has evolved since the post-socialist transition.
Germany’s energy transition is affecting its land market, driving investment and increasing concentration of land ownership. In this op-ed, Anne Neuber of Netzwerk Flächensicherung, an alliance working to secure land for ecological, regional and peasant agriculture in Germany, explores these dynamics and calls for stronger regulation to ensure solar expansion works in harmony with farming and environmental priorities.
In the context of the European Commission’s Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, and its ongoing consultation on a new
National and European Perspectives Ukraine plays a critical role in Europe’s agricultural landscape – not only geopolitically, but also in terms of