Generational renewal in the agricultural sector is a key political priority at various levels of governance. However, the reality on the ground suggests that the measures taken over the past decade have not yielded the desired results. A study led by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has scrutinised the current state of generational renewal in the primary sector, identifying critical issues and outlining strategic priorities for its progress and sustainability in the coming years.

“We aim to shift the focus from a typical individual or farm-centric approach towards a regional, collective, political, and historical perspective. By listening to the stakeholders themselves, one of our objectives was to propose applicable policy recommendations that can help reverse the abandonment of the sector,” explained Lucía Argüelles, a lead author of the study and a researcher with the TURBA lab group of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Social and Cultural Transformations (UOC-TRÀNSIC). She collaborated with Neus Monllor, founder and director of the agrosocial consultancy Amaterra.

“The dominant agrarian model, with its corporate entities,agronomists, and ordinary workers, is not structurally designed for social reproduction. In this context, financial aid for new entrants and technical support, while important, are insufficient if the structural conditions of the agri-food system remain unchanged,” continued Argüelles. She stressed the need for a paradigm shift in agricultural generational renewal, arguing that simply bringing new farmers into a system where it is difficult to earn a dignified living is inadequate. “For new people to join the sector, the first indispensable step is to provide physical, economic and emotional care to those already working the land,” Argüelles asserted.

As part of the GRANGE project, funded by the "la Caixa" Foundation, this study involved more than 100 in-depth interviews with producers, residents, and territorial agents across six regions. These interviews provided first-hand insights into the current situation.

A principal conclusion, according to the authors, is that rural areas are not being depopulated due to a lack of vocational interest, but because market rules, agricultural policies, and barriers to accessingproduction resources have historically marginalised small and medium-scale operations. "Today, we are witnessing the result of decades of sabotage to this type of agriculture, which our study shows is also linked to territorial dynamics such as rural depopulation (related to a lack of local infrastructure like abattoirs or meat processing facilities), tourist and urban pressures, and the degradation of the agro-social fabric," Argüelles explained.

For example, in regions such as El Pla de Mallorca, tourism has historically competed for land and labour, thereby socially devaluing the farming profession compared to other sectors. "In more remote or depopulated regions, the absence of schools or health centres leads young families to leave, directly resulting in agricultural abandonment," the UOC researcher elaborated.

While the rural world and the primary sector face significant challenges, farmers also demonstrate an awareness of quality of life, vocational commitment, connection with nature, expertise, and resilience: "We want to emphasise the urgent need to radically change the narrative about the rural world. As long as we continue to bombard society and the sector itself with negative and even catastrophic stories, we will continue to discourageyounger generations," the expert insisted.

Furthermore, the climate emergency is an emerging factor in agricultural succession. "Climate change does not typically displace farmers directly due to their immense capacity for technical adaptation, but it acts as a multiplier of costs, uncertainties, and animal and plant health problems, ultimately depleting the emotional well-being of an already highly stressed sector," warned the TURBA Lab group researcher.

Indeed, the impacts of climate change can intensify existing problems in the sector, such as an increase in pests, pathogens, and diseases; the encroachment of scrubland favoured by a lack of cold and snow; an increase in wildlife; and a heightened risk of fires in natural environments. "These phenomena, which are indirect impacts, cause traumatic events such as total crop losses, livestock deaths, and widespread uprooting of trees. These are critical points for agrarian succession," Argüelles noted.

Conversely, a lack of succession (or agricultural abandonment) can exacerbate climate change-relatedrisks: "As seen with the reduction of sheep and goat farms, the abandonment of agricultural land leads to problems such as uncontrolled scrub growth, exponentially increasing the risk of large forest fires."

The report proposes new strategies to ensure the future of agriculture in the current climate and its integration into the local territory. According to the authors, generational renewal in the primary sector requires rebuilding social relationships, re-establishing collective benchmarks, and fostering more hopeful future narratives. This includes challenging existing narratives about agrarian succession, which often frame the lack of succession as the problem itself (rather than a symptom of larger issues), based on limited and overlyhomogeneous statistics. However, "generational renewal is a heterogeneous process, deeply linked to the agro-social history of each territory, so standardised solutions are not entirely effective," Argüelles explained.

The guide therefore advocates for more urgent and transformativestrategic approaches, such as protecting and localising support for small and medium-scale enterprises. "It is imperative to guarantee the viability of family farms'at all costs', promoting local infrastructure such as abattoirs, meat processing facilities, and marketing networks, and implementing agreements to prioritise their produce in public procurement for schools, hospitals, and institutionalcatering," the expert stated. The study also calls for highlighting the differences in succession dynamics between geographies and subsectors.

Furthermore, the authors advocate for decentralising governance, integrating institutional processes, and strengthening community fabric by implementing "radical political change that brings institutions closer to rural areas." This would involve creating stable spaces for two-way dialogue and local decision-making, such as municipal agrarian councils.
All these initiatives are underpinned by the fundamental principle of maintaining and strengthening community fabric and the emotional well-being of those in the sector, to help secure the future of agriculture and the food autonomy of the State. "Succession is not purely an economic process or a land transfer; it depends on the existence of living territories. In these cases, it is essential to rebuild cooperative networks, ensuring basic public services such as housing, schools, and healthcare," Argüelles concluded.

This project aligns with the UOC's research mission on planetary health and well-being and promotes UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and 13 (Climate Action).