55. Youth dialogue: Facilitating access to agricultural careers

57 is the average age a European farmer. This figure is all the more alarming, according to specialists in the sector, because it keeps rising. If nothing changes, this means that in 10 years' time, more than half the farmers in the European Union will have retired. Ensuring the next generation of farmers is now a priority, and the raison d'être of the Youth Policy Dialogue launched in December - a series of meetings between the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, and representatives of young farmers and rural communities. The 55th episode of Food for Europe looks back at the issues discussed at the second session of this dialogue, held in Brussels on 7 May, and at the conference on the Vision for European Agriculture and Food held the following day. You will meet two young women farmers with contrasting views: Justine Poppe, who works on her parents' dairy farm, and Anne Van Leeuwen, an art historian who has turned to regenerative agriculture. Martin Siemen, a shipbuilding engineer and vice-president of the NGO Rural Youth Europe, talks about the importance of opening up the countryside to stem the rural exodus and make life easier for farmers. Finally, Commissioner Hansen takes stock of his discussions with young people on access to land and finance, and suggests possible solutions.