Fostering access to land for a new generation of agroecological farmers Erasmus Project

Project Title

Fostering access to land for a new generation of agroecological farmers

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship); Reaching the policy level/dialogue with decision makers; Agriculture, forestry and fisheries

Project Summary

Preserving land for sustainable agriculture is a growing issue in Europe. Farmland is increasingly pressured by urban sprawl. In addition, land is concentrated on large, intensive farms, while small-scale farming is disappearing. The forthcoming retirement of a huge majority of farmers, and increasing difficulties to replace them, may mean further rural abandonment. Difficulties are even more important for newcomers (i.e. farmers with no previous agricultural history), which represent a significant part of the new generation entering farming.

Land access has so far been largely left out of existing policies and extension services, as most land transfers were deemed to be spontaneously taking place within the family, or on the market. But existing mechanisms are now blocked and there needs to be a specific action to facilitate land access. In parallel, we are witnessing the emergence of social innovations which support farmers in securing land to enter farming or to consolidate their farm businesses.

Our partnership is composed of 9 organisations, from 7 countries:
– Belgium: Terre-en-vue,
– France: Terre de Liens,
– Germany: Regionalwert AG,
– Italy: AIAB Lazio,
– Romania: Eco Ruralis
– Spain: Rurbans and Xarxa de custodia de territori (XCT), and
– the UK: the Soil Association and the Real Farming Trust.
All are operational organisations, directly supporting or training farmers and engaging with citizens and other stakeholders. All are members of the European network Access to land.

This project focused on three main objectives and strands of work:
1- Strengthening practical knowledge to secure good land access
Identifying and networking relevant national organisations and developing technical resources about diverse aspects of the land question.
2- Building public support for land access
Building up the knowledge of volunteers, and the public, and engaging with other civil society organisations and other stakeholders (local authorities, experts, public institutions).
3- Contributing to the evolution of the support system for farmers’ access to land
We will draw lessons learnt from some of our work in order to develop policy recommendations and/ or engage with local authorities or other policy-makers on a local, national or European stage.

Our project focused on producing and disseminating a series of intellectual outputs to a range of audiences. Indeed, while there is a wealth of experiences and questions raised through the practice of our organisations, these are not capitalised, systematised, analysed and shared enough. Developing and disseminating these resources are essential consolidate our own ways of doing, upscale our work, share lessons learnt and improve future practices and policies.

Our outcomes and longer-term benefits are both tangible and intangible:
Tangible results:
– materials informing and connecting stakeholders working on access to land: on-line directory of access to land organisations, website and newsletter
– materials providing general knowledge to diverse audiences: documentary film, infographics, quiz, slide show, instagram gallery.
– a range of resources providing technical knowledge to diverse audiences:
* Reports: report on local authorities’ role on securing land for farmers in Europe; Series of papers on small farms; Report on access to land for new entrants; Report on farm incubators; Preliminary study on legal tools for land tenure; Report on Access to land and community-supported agriculture.
* Case studies (some included in the reports): good practices from local authorities; portraits of new entrants with innovative solutions to access land; case studies about interesting legal tools; case studies of community-supported agriculture securing land.
* Lessons learnt (also sometimes included in the reports): recommendations for local authorities; comparative analysis of obstacles and solutions for new entrants; lessons learnt on small farms; recommendations on legal tools.
* the setting-up or consolidation of new projects, within or supported by our organisations –e.g. farm incubators, cooperation with local authorities, setting up a new land trust.

Intangible results and longer-term impacts:
– Consolidated practical skills, tools and approaches of participating organisations
– Better-skilled and better-networked organisations supporting farmers/ prospective farmers, with higher access to existing resources on access to land
– Better access to resources for farmers/ prospective farmers seeking guidance on access to land, and better access to support from a range of organisations and stakeholders
– Empowered citizens, better able to mobilise and support farmers and other local stakeholders in securing land use for sustainable food production
– Evolution of public authorities’ policies and practice, to better include the need for generational renewal, preservation of sustainable agriculture and food, and participatory approaches to land use and management.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 421809 Eur

Project Coordinator

Terre de liens & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Associació Rurbans
• Xarxa de Custòdia del Territori
• THE SOIL ASSOCIATION LIMITED
• Terre-en-vue ASBL
• ASOCIATIA ECO RURALIS-IN SPRIJINULFERMIERIL OR ECOLOGICI SI TRADITIONALI
• The Real Farming Trust ( changed from Winged Horse Trust
• Regionalwert AG