On 12th December 2013, the Youth and young farmers workshop took place in Brussels. It was a dynamic journey where, first, the main findings of the ENRD youth initiative were introduced. Then, some keys recommendations for policy actors, organisations and young people were given by the ENRD. For instance, policy actors should target youth in the strategy documents using a proactive and long-term approach.
Following, young people presented six different stories of youth involvement in rural Europe. They highlighted:
– the necessary use of media in an effective way to reach young people and to incentive participation,
– the importance of encouraging young people to implement viable business ideas and providing them with support and informative sessions concerning bureaucracy and legislation,
– and the importance of regional youth parliaments or similar organisations for the success of certain projects.
After the presentations there was an interactive session to discuss with the speakers.
In the afternoon, the room was divided into several groups addressing different issues suggested by the participants themselves. Among the topics addressed, there were generation renewal in agriculture, access to land by young people, youth participation in rural areas, development in disadvantaged areas, conservation and biodiversity projects, financing rural projects effectively… Some of the outcomes of these discussions were the necessity to raise awareness of young farmers and female farmers; to support a bottom-up engagement of young people on participation; to promote a revision of the legislation concerning access to land, subsidies and taxes; or to elaborate more biodiversity friendly projects.
Finally, there was a closure speech where the new CAP was presented as a tool for young people in agriculture and some of its characteristics were highlighted.
You can have a look to the documentation of the workshop here.
More information will be sent in January 2014 once the full report of the conference and the presentations and posters will be online.
