Publications

Publications
Ruralization: The opening of rural areas to renew rural generations, jobs and farms

With this compendium we would like to present the results of the EU research project RURALIZATION. The compendium is airned at rural development practitioners. Are you an elected official or municipal employee in a rural area? Do you work for a civil society organisation in rural development? Are you a farmer or entrepreneur? Are you involved in rural development on a voluntary basis? Or do you work for an umbrella organisation such as the farmers’ association, the chamber of commerce and industry or a municipal umbrella organisation?

This compendium was written for you. As practitioners, you know best how successful rural development policy works. Together with you, we would therefore like to find out how the results of the RURALIZATION project can be translated into policy and practice.

Compendium

FARM SUCCESSION FOR A SUTAINABLE RURAL TRANSITION

The Catalan Network for Nature Conservation (XCN) fosters nature conservation initiatives amongst civil society. These occur on a variety of contexts including farmland. Fostering farm transmissions with an agroecological perspective is a complementary strategy to contribute to nature conservation and rural regeneration. XCN supports the few local organisations that work on that line. This action is focused on “la Vall del Corb” (VdC), a rural area facing demographic decline, abandonment or intensification of farming activities, a lack of new entrants, and little farm diversification. Local actors are getting organised to revert these tendencies and revitalise VdC through a long-term project named “Territori de Vincles”.

Vall del Corb_XCN_Handout_HR

RESILIENT STRATEGIES FOR HAY MEADOWS CONSERVATION

The Catalan Network for Nature Conservation (XCN) is an organisation that brings together XX environmental entities and local authorities. It fosters nature conservation initiatives amongst civil society, by leading actions related to knowledge transfer, funding, advising, and policy. One of XCN’s members, the ecologist association IAEDEN is active in the conservation of hay meadows, which present high ecological and cultural values. These habitats have been historically maintained by livestock farmers but they are in serious danger of disappearing due to abandonment or intensification. IAEDEN engages with landowners to ensure the preservation or restoration of hay meadows and develops research and educational activities.

Haymeadows_XCN_handout_HR

SECURING LAND WITH RETIREMENT SAVINGS

At today’s prices, land purchases can hardly be amortized from the income generated by food production. Average land prices in Germany have risen 250% since 2009 to more than €26,000
per hectare. The Kulturland Cooperative (Kulturland eG) is a community of farmers and citizens who work to free agricultural land from speculation. It enables the purchase of land for ecologically operating farms that also consciously integrate themselves into their region and open up socially. For this purpose, Kulturland eG has developed a new form of collective ownership of agricultural land aimed at stewarding it across generations, a kind of modern “commons”. More than 1,000 people have bought shares in Kulturland eG, enabling 350 hectares of land to be secured for 23 farms.

Fundraising_KL_Handout_HR

MAKING COLLECTIVE LAND PURCHASE WORK FOR FARM SUCCESSION

De Landgenoten (DLg), Dutch for ‘fellow countrymen’, is a foundation and cooperative that aims to provide access to agricultural land for professional agro-ecological farmers in Flanders through collective land purchasing. Access to land is indeed one of the main thresholds for farmers to start, secure, expand or transfer a farm. In Flanders prices have risen by 28.7% between 2015 and 2019 with a price per hectare averaging €63,000. Acquiring land becomes harder for young farmers because increasing amounts of capital are needed and many owners are reluctant to grant new leases.

Farm Succession_DLg_Handout HR

CREATING A TERRITORIAL ‘CITIZEN’ FARM

The Terre de Liens (TDL) Auvergne association works to preserve and provide access to agricultural lands to a new generation of farmers. Operating around the ClermontFerrand metropolis, a highly pressured peri-urban environment, TDL Auvergne has difficulty finding land suiting the demands of aspiring farmers for small, irrigable, and accessible plots. Since most farms in the area are large-scale monocultures, the association imagined as an alternative solution to acquire a large holding, restructure, and rehabilitate it to allow the establishment of several small farmers. In 2017, an unhoped-for opportunity materialised as a family of five heirs approached TDL Auvergne to transfer a large land plot (about 80 ha located on the “Sarliève” periurban plain). Part of the land would be donated and the other part sold to TDL.

Farm restructuring_TDL_Handout_HR

INNOVATIVE OWNERSHIP OF FARM BUILDINGS

Access to land organisations that acquire (or accept donations of) farms face the challenge of how to be “good owners” towards their tenants. While good stewardship of land can be relatively easy—using a long-term contract with good requirements concerning land use—good stewardship of buildings requires much more continuous involvement. Even in a very liberal tenancy contract, the owner remains responsible for very detailed questions with regard to maintenance and changes to the building. Many access to land organisations have made the experience that building maintenance requires lots of time, which in some cases can only be financed by higher lease payments, while farmers oftentimes remain unsatisfied with the outcome, wishing to have more freedom to maintain and redesign their farm buildings.

Farm restructuring_TDL_Handout_HR

REIMAGINING COUNCIL FARMLAND

Shared Assets works to create a socially just future through practical projects that build new relationships between people and the land. We see council farmland as a valuable but at risk public asset. Previous research we were involved in found that over 84,000 hectares of ‘county farm’ land held by local councils in the UK has been sold off over the past 40 years, and the approximately 80,000 hectares of this land that remains is threatened by the effects of privatisation and public budget cuts. If preserved, this asset and other council farmland could help meet the groundswell of interest in small-scale agroecological growing farming in England, as well as helping to address a range of other socio-economic and environmental issues.

County Farms_Shared Assets_Handout HR (1)

STEWARDING COMMONS FOR NEW GENERATIONS

With 98% of farms using less than 10 hectares of land, Romania is truly a peasant farming country. One of the most valuable and important assets that small-scale farmers have in Romania are the commons. Common pastures allow peasants to raise animals such as sheep, cattle, and goats without having to purchase extra land. This grazing land may be owned by public bodies, private  organisations or individuals, but is characterised by multiple grazing rights. Although no exact figures on the distribution of common pastures are available, a rough approximation suggests that over half of the 3.4 million ha of permanent pastures in Romania can be considered common land.

Commons_ER_handout_HR

MONITORING BIODIVERSITY ON FARMS

Terre de Liens (TDL) is a non-profit organisation working to preserve agricultural lands and support a new generation of farmers. It owns over 250 farms, over 6000 ha, across France. TDL favours the settlement of new entrants practicing organic agriculture on these farms, renting the land through a special type of long-term farm tenancy contracts called “Environmental Rural Leases” (ERLs). These include clauses to promote environmentally friendly agricultural practices. Most often, TDL includes organic practices and the maintenance of existing agroecological infrastructures (hedges, ponds..) in the ERLs. Other clauses may be included in concertation with farmers and in compliance with the law (out of 16 possible clauses pre-defined by law).

Biodiversity_TDL_Handout_HR

CREATING A COMMUNITY LAND TRUST

In Romania, transfer of land property is difficult for several reasons: land fragmentation is very high (average plot size of 0.45 hectares); there is a lack of land registration in the official cadastral system (only about 59% of land registered in 2021), and land is also subject to increasing concentration and even land grabbing. According to the Romanian National Institute of Statistics, between 2002-2010, 150.000 small farms disappeared while large farming increased by 3%. A total of 12,000 farms over 100 hectares, representing 0.3% of Romanian holdings, control 34% of the country’s utilized agricultural area. In addition to these important land thresholds, the farming population is rapidly aging—66.4% of peasants over 55 years old and only 7.3% under 35—and low retirement pensions (€280 on average in 2020) incite older farmers to sell their land to the highest bidder instead of passing it on to a family member. This further reinforces the concentration tendency and lack of generational renewal.

ALPA_ER_Handout_HR

Articles
ArticlesNew generations blog
Italian winemaking town sets example for EU rural revival
Author: Pieter DevuystAsti in Italy is among numerous towns across Europe reviving the countryside. © Claudio Giovanni Colombo, Shutterstock.com Near the north-western Italian town of Asti, known for its vineyards and sparkling white wine, Alberto Mossino helped cultivate a different crop: maize. On a farm surrounding a 19th-century villa he revived the production of Ottofile maize, which […] Continue reading
Ruralization: How can we create thriving rural places for all?
Author: Shared AssetsShared Assets has developed a zine answering: “HOW CAN WE CREATE THRIVING RURAL PLACES FOR ALL?”. This zine intends to transform complex research that has been conducted by the Ruralization Project into material that can be widely understood, celebrated and enjoyed. Continue reading
“Local Authorities Making Farmland Work for the Public Good”
Author: A new online handbook dedicated to local governments The Access to Land Network is releasing a new handbook to provide guidance for officials and staff of local governments on how to make a difference in the way agricultural land is used and shared, for the benefit of people and the planet. Local action is key […] Continue reading
European Ruralization project and the IGU – 100 Paris 2022
Author: Mathieu Nicole and Robert-Boeuf Camille, CNRSThe 100th Congress of the IGU (International Geographic Union) is an important international event, as it celebrates the 100 years of the IGU. In this context, the RURALIZATION partners from the CNRS team has proposed a session around about our H2020 project. Now we  have a great opportunity to present and discuss the research related […] Continue reading
New RURALIZATION deliverable on “Novel Land Practices”
Author: Alice Martin-Prével, Fédération nationale Terre de LiensIn 2021 six members and partners of the RURALIZATION project developed innovative actions on emerging land topics. These actions covered a wide range of topics, from the conservation of hay meadows, to creating new visions for public farmland ; from exploring new ways to own farm buildings, to creating solidarity-based land access structures. A new […] Continue reading
Innovative land practices for an agricultural transition and rural regeneration
Author: Alice Martin-Prével, Fédération nationale Terre de LiensKEY TAKEAWAYS FROM A EUROPEAN STUDY Involving partners from research, civil society, public, and private sectors, the brings a multi-actor and multi-disciplinary perspective on innovationsand good practices to trigger rural regeneration and generational renewal in Europe. Access to land is recognised as a major barrier to entering farming. The RURALIZATION project is investigating land policies […] Continue reading
Facilitating rural newcomers, new entrants into farming and successors: EU Countries’ conceptualization 
Author: RuralizationIn favor of developing a new rural frontier in the framework of Ruralization project, workpackage (WP) 5 aims to promote rural innovation by research and facilitate rural newcomers, new entrants into farming and successors. As part of workpackage 5, an analysis on rural newcomers, new entrants into farming and successors (T5.1) was implemented. Authors: Anne […] Continue reading
Land innovations to foster rural regeneration and generational renewal in Europe
Author: Alice Martin-Prével, Fédération nationale Terre de LiensIn a new report submitted to the European Commission in October [1], the RURALIZATION consortium tackles the question of innovative land practices. Documenting 64 innovative practices across 14 European countries, the study explores how a variety of actors—farmers themselves but also citizens, local authorities, rural development organisations, and others—work for a better access to land and […] Continue reading
Female Entrepreneurship in Agriculture: lessons from a regional event in Alsace, France
Author: Alice Martin-Prével, Fédération nationale Terre de LiensBy Alice Martin-Prével, from Terre de Liens   Gender is a cross-cutting topic of the RURALIZATION project, which aims to harvest potential growth that can be unlocked by overcoming traditional gender roles in the generational renewal of rural areas. In November 2019, the Terre de Liens regional association based in Alsace[1] organised an event bringing […] Continue reading
Scientific publications
The opening of rural areas to renew rural generations, jobs and farms: D3.3 Review Report and Fact Sheets based on previous European projects
Author: Murtagh, Aisling; Farrell, Maura; Mahon, Marie; McDonagh, John; Keenaghan, Natasha; Conway, Therese; Conway, Shane; Ahlmeyer, Florian; Blasco, Clara; Brochot, Aline; Corrado, Alessandra; Correa, Miquel; Csizmady, Adrienne; Kim, Graham; Krzysztof, Janc; Karsa, Dóra; Kinsella, Anne; Willem Korthals, Altes; Kovach, Imre; Alice, Martin-Prevel; Nicole, Mathieu; Szocs-Boruss Miklos, Attila; Quesada, Irene; Raczyk, Andrzej; Rioufol, Veronique; Jofre, Rodrigo; Pertti, Ruuska; Sivini, Silvia; Tas, Petra; Levente, Viszló; Vitale, Annamaria; Wiehler, Hans-AlbrechtThe RURALIZATION project aims to look at ways to overcome rural decline issues that support rural regeneration and generational renewal. The empirical focus of the project is to develop, assess and disseminate novel instruments, strategies and policies that cater for rural regeneration. This is done specificallyin relation to the future dreams of rural youth, facilitating rural newcomers and new entrants into farming and by addressing the issue of access to land. RURALIZATION will also carry out a trend analysis to uncover relevant trends for rural regions. This knowledge base will culminate in generating effective policy tools. Through this RURALIZATION aims to contribute to the development of a new rural frontier that provides exciting opportunities to new rural generations for social and economic sustainability and to realise their dreams in a rural context (...)
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Presentations
Presentations WP6 Expert meeting 15th October 2020 Download
Posters
Farm Partnerships – a promising practice?
Author: Anne Kinsella, Teagasc – Agriculture and Food development Authority, IrelandAnne Kinsella, Teagasc economist presented to international  agri benchmark Beef and Sheep Conference participants on the Horizon EU project Ruralization, at the Thünen-Campus in Braunschweig, Germany. Participants included representatives from most EU countries and the UK in addition to international participants from countries as far afield as India, Tunisia, Kazachstan, Brazil, Paraquay, Uraquay and Australia. Teagasc is […] Continue reading