Views: 106
With over 80 percent of the EU territory dedicated to agriculture and forestry activities, the EU’s common agricultural policy, becomes a focal part of the member states’ political economies and development. However, the “common policy” needs both structural changes and the so-called generational renewal, coped with adequate financial support for farmers. The new CAP-27 Strategy called “generational renewal in agriculture” sets out a clear roadmap to support young farmers and attract more people in the farming sectors.
Background
New European agro-strategy aims at facilitating “the entry of young people into farming”; the task has had some deliverables: e.g. reducing numerous structural barriers in the sector, such as access to land, available new agro-skills and financial resources, as well as innovation and succession opportunities. These are some of many interconnected challenges that discourage new entrants. The strategy promotes more coordinated action among the EU-27 national/regional levels, combining measures on taxation, pensions, education and rural services with targeted support for new farmers.
Beyond financial aspects, the strategy focuses on making farming more attractive and viable by improving living conditions in rural areas, promoting innovation and digitalisation and ensuring that the modernised farming sector deliver rewarding and future-oriented young people’s employment.
However, the assets of the EU CAP are significant: over 9 million farms, about 7 million people working in agricultural production and 39 million jobs in the agro-food processing. The aggregate value of the EU-wide agricultural production in 2024 has been €532.4 billion, with a positive agro-food trade balance in 2024 reaching €63.3 billion; finally, agro-food exports added in 2024 to the common EU budget about €235.5 billion.
EU agro-policy after 2027: CAP-27
The so-called Common Agricultural Policy after 2027 (CAP-27) is aimed at making supporting measures for small farms (and those for young farmers, also covering disadvantaged areas in the member states) more targeted, flexible and simplified.
The reforms are oriented, first of all, towards ensuring income stability and resilience for farmers through a fixed EU-wide agro-budget of at least €300 billion, with a fairer distribution of payments via special accounting schemes for small and larger farms, coped with flexible member states’ facilities to design national agro-support schemes.
Generally, the agro-payment distribution is divided into two parts: a) income support: amounts of about €293.7 billion for ensuring stability and predictability for farmers; and b) unity safety net with €6.3 billion to assist EU countries in case of disturbance of markets.
The CAP-27 central role in the next multi-year budget is to deliver on the strategic orientations provided by the EU “Vision for Agriculture and Food” program” thus EU-national agro-budgets will improve strategic planning and better serve farmers, agriculture and rural areas while enabling further synergies within agro-food sectors.
More on “Vision for Agriculture and Food” in: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/overview-vision-agriculture-food/vision-agriculture-and-food_en
Thus, according to Commission account, the “CAP-27 integration into the National and Regional Partnership (NRP) plans is supported by the NRP fund envelope which will amount to total €865 billion. Besides, as part of the NRP plans, the EU states will have €453 billion to deliver on national needs, including for agriculture and rural areas, through country-specific CAP recommendations.
Source: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/common-agricultural-policy/cap-overview/cap-post-2027-next-eu-budget_en
New strategy
The so-called new agro-oriented “generational renewal strategy” (CAP-27) sets out the Commission’s comprehensive plan to attract and support a new generation of farmers, ensuring the long-term sustainability of European agriculture. It reflects the Commission’s commitment to the “future of EU farming” by making rural life more attractive and addressing structural barriers such as access to land, finances and training, including the pension schemes for exiting farmers, which would all make “renewal” uniquely difficult compared to other sectors.
The EU is launching this strategy in response to an urgent demographic challenge: one-third of farmers are already over 65, and retirements are accelerating faster than replacements, with good signs of threatening food security and rural economies. Agriculture is the only major EU sector where more people are above pension age (with an average age of 40), reflecting a uniquely unbalanced age structure in the EU-wide pension structures.
Without timely action, the social and territorial fabric of rural areas is under risk of being further weakened: hence, the “generational strategy” establishes a coordinated EU framework linking the EU-wide Common Agricultural Policy’s instruments with national measures to foster renewal, strengthen rural vitality and secure European perspective food supply.
Source: European Commission “Commission proposes measures to support generational renewal in agriculture to secure Europe’s food, farming and rural future” (2025), in: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2433
Generational shift: present problems
European agriculture is ageing faster than other sectors in the states: currently, the average age of a farmer in the EU is 57; and only 12% of them are below 40 years-old, thus falling in the category of young farmers. This imbalance poses risks to long-term food security, the EU’s strategic autonomy in food production and the sustainability of Europe’s farming landscapes.
The pool of rural youth is also shrinking: during 2013-2019, the number of young people aged 15–24 living in rural areas fell from 3.6 million to 1.9 million, while those aged 25–29 declined from 6.9 million to 5.9 million.
While many older farmers own their land, younger generations are often confined to tenancy, operating around 15 million hectares as tenants compared with 10 million as owners.
Thus, access to land, to affordable credit and to essential skills remain major barriers for young farmers: e.g. in 2022, young farmers in the EU member states faced a financing gap of €14.1 billion, equivalent to 22% of the sector’s total shortfall.
More in: European Commission. Press Corner “Questions and answers on the Commission’s Strategy for Generational Renewal in Agriculture”, in: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_25_2434
The new strategy is aimed at promoting fairness between generations by supporting both new entrants and older farmers in managing smoother and more secure transitions. It is going to encourage the member states to strengthen pension schemes and introduce incentives for early and voluntary retirement, allowing older farmers to step back with dignity and financial stability. It also promotes advisory services and training on succession planning, inheritance and legal or financial arrangements to facilitate timely farms’ transfers.
Thus, the strategy’s objective is that “the older farmers are not left behind while creating space and opportunities for younger generations to take over viable farms”.
With the coordinated framework involving several policies and all governance levels, the CAP-27 address the structural, social and economic conditions affecting generational renewal. While the main EU CAP remains a key instrument in agriculture, the CAP-27 extends action to areas such as pensions, education, land policy and rural services by linking the EU-wide and the national priorities and initiatives, with the goal of strengthening coherence across sectors and promoting a shared politico-economic EU-wide commitment to sustainable growth.
Finally, the Commission recommends that the states, especially those lagging behind, invest at least 6% of their agricultural budgets to measures promoting generational renewal, with the option to mobilise additional resources. The strategy aims to double the share of young farmers in the EU by 2040, with a goal of young and new farmers constituting about 24% of European farmers.
Citation from: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_25_2434
Targeted income support
The CAP-27 strategy suggests more flexibility and more options in farmers’ financial support: the rules are going to be simplified and the use of lump sums strengthened, giving farmers in the EU states additional facilities in the income support for young and new farmers, women, family or small farmers and mixed farms.
The new CAP-27 proposes a fair distribution of EU agro-funds by a more targeted approach to area-based payments, considering the unique economic conditions of specific farms and territories.
Thus, smaller farms can receive dedicated support through area-based payments and lump sums (maximum €3 000 per year); such support would stable income to most “problematic farmers” while promoting fairness and efficiency. Farmers may be able to access relief services and benefit from the help of replacement workers when they are sick, or on leave and/or dealing with family’s agricultural responsibilities.
There are as well measures to address redistribution of income support, which include capping direct payments to larger farms (maximum €100 000 per year) and implementing mandatory annual degressive payments.
Source: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/media/news/next-chapter-cap-2025-07-17_en