Germany, well known for its engineering industry, innovation and ingenuity, is often forgotten when it comes to agriculture. With more than 50% of Germany’s surface area used for agriculture, it is the third largest agricultural exporter in the world, behind the US and the Netherlands — impressive! Last year 266,690 agricultural holdings were registered in Germany, most of these were family farms.

But it is no secret, that the industry is shrinking. More, and more people, are leaving the sector, or moving overseas — to countries with cheaper farmland prices and with desires of owning, operating and living on their own farm. Young people are moving to the cities, to chase urban lifestyles and reliable jobs. Agriculture is not seen as ‘cool’ among younger populations, neither is it seen as ‘lucrative’ or financially reliable. In Germany, the number of farmers younger than 45 fell from 32% to 25% between 2010–2016, and the number of farmers 55+ rose from 32–40%.

Land prices have risen sharply in recent years in Germany, with the average price jumping from 8,909€ to 24,100€ per hectare between 2006 and 2017. Many farmers say that at these rates, the cost of land greatly outweighs the earning capacity of the land. Increasing levels of urbanisation and the expansion of transport infrastructure across Germany only reduces the supply of fertile land, a globally finite resource. Recognising this value in German land, large multinational corporations are quickly buying up land, only then accelerating the situation. It is estimated that 70 hectares of arable land, is lost each day to urbanisation, roughly 98 soccer fields a day and 35,500 soccer fields a year. Paved, compacted, sealed over and built on —ultimately lost.

Germany’s sharp increase in land prices looks only to continue; leaving many farmers unable to expand and scale their operations. Often forced to take on more and more debt — German farmers are plagued by unaffordable debt burdens. First disappear the small scale farms, followed by the family and independent farms. Large national companies and corporations takeover, concentrating more and more agricultural land among the large landowners.

For aspiring and young farmers, the collateral requirements to purchase a farm are large, and even when achievable, they are often dealt unfavourable long term repayment conditions.This leaves the farmers with long cycles of negative cash flows — impossible to overcome. The startup costs required to start a farm are large; educational costs, land, fencing, storage, machinery, plant materials, animals, crops … it is a long and expensive list. Taking on such large debts at early stages, only furthers the overall risks associated with farming. Little-to-no financial incentives exist for young farmers.

Things must change if the farming industry is to be attractive to young people again. We need young farmers to prevent future labour shortages in the sector, to drive innovation, to properly tackle sustainability and to be able to efficiently feed a population of nearly ~10 billion by 2050.

We believe that agriculture is the most important sector in any economy,

and that young people are the key to its success. It is important to ensure that the agricultural sector is financially attractive to future generations, and that the proper frameworks exist to allow equal access to this vital industry.