Fourth Stakeholder Meeting in Neckar-Alb on 14th May!

Our regional partner, the Regionalverband Neckar-Alb (RVNA), hosted their fourth Down to Earth Stakeholder Meeting in Mössingen on 14th of May 2024.

The aim of the meeting was to introduce the stakeholders to the working topic of year 2, access barriers to young farmers in depopulated areas.

At the beginning of the meeting, the participants were informed about the latest developments in the project and were given an overview of the work carried out since the last stakeholder meeting, including the digital workshop held on the topic with Neus Monllor and Dirk Madrilles from amaterra in April.

RVNA first summed up the scientific background, the core theses and the scientific references of the approach for the stakeholders. It was emphasized that the concept of "agrarian social regeneration" and the concept of "generational renewal on farms" are particularly relevant to the working topic.

Building on this, the structural challenges of EU agriculture in terms of demographic, economic, social, environmental and institutional challenges were summarized. In addition, the concept of generational renewal in agriculture was explained in detail to the stakeholders.

The last part of the meeting was dedicated to the discussion of the approach and to the determination of key priorities. After presenting the formal requirements for working on the tasks of year 2, the stakeholders gave feedback on the approach and the concepts presented.

They highlighted that education and training are important issues in the context of farm adoption. They suggested that existing patterns of career entry, inheritance practices and off-farm succession should be examined if a deeper understanding of the topic is to be achieved.  It was also mentioned that an analysis of available demographic and economic data might be helpful in this regard. Finally, it was stated that the situation in Germany is not the same as in other European countries, since there is no lack of farmable land or land management in Germany. According to the stakeholders, there are some access barriers to farmers, but these clearly differ from those in other countries

Preparation of the upcoming Down to Earth Study Visit in the Neckar-Alb region

A second meeting was also organised on that day to advance the preparations in close coordination with the stakeholders of the upcoming study visit in the region from June 4-6.