From Rural Decline to Generational Renewal: Pathways towards a New Rural Frontier

Generational renewal relates to the levels of young people living and working in farming and rural areas. It is a key part of the regeneration challenge facing European rural areas and farms in overcoming rural decline. Decline issues directly linked to generational renewal include population decline, the ageing farming profession, and rural youth outmigration. Generational renewal is a core factor in the future social and economic sustainability of rural areas. For generational renewal, rural places, their services, and amenities, as well as the livelihood opportunities, must serve rural youth so they stay in or migrate back to rural areas. Farm viability and the attractiveness of the occupation are key issues, as well as access to land, particularly for new entrants. Levels of farm succession also bring wider issues such as the ease of farm transferability, the need for greater succession planning, and the social, economic, and cultural factors linked to retiring from farming. Wider rural decline problems also impact generational renewal, such as the quality and quantity of rural jobs, declining rural services, erosion of social capital, and gender inequality. These issues vary in different contexts, and the specific nature and extent of the generational renewal problem across Europe differs and is a matter for determination in national contexts (Coopmans et al., 2020; Dwyer et al., 2019). However, there is a clear need for a better understanding and examination of the key levers that can support improved rural generational renewal and regeneration, as well as the barriers inhibiting this process. These issues go beyond the CAP to areas such as planning and environmental policy, as well as existing at several governance levels from local, regional, national to European (Coopmans et al. 2020).