Periodic Reporting for period 3 - RURALIZATION (The opening of rural areas to renew rural generations, jobs and farms)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-05-01 bis 2023-04-30
A trend of unequal development exists between urban and rural areas. Economic activity is stronger in urban than rural areas. At the same time, rural areas face challenges, such as the concentration of landownership or the ageing of the population. The lack of rural regeneration contributes to a reduced workforce and isolation, a lack of local food supply, the disappearance of small farms, and the degradation of landscapes and the environment.
Eurostat (2020) projects that the population of Europe’s urban regions will increase by 8.6 million persons and of predominantly rural regions will fall by 6.8 million.
RURALIZATION is based on the premise that rural regeneration is needed to generate opportunities for new generations of existing and potential rural inhabitants. Newcomers and new entrants into farming are key players in bringing innovation into rural areas. RURALIZATION looks at how farming can be part of this new rural reality created by ruralisation and devotes particular attention to access to land, as well as wider issues around facilitating new entrants and succession.
The main policy recommendations are the following:
1. Welcome the change: new generations make a difference
2. Look for the weak signals: find place-based strategies
3. Concerted action is needed
4. Focus on cultural and social capital
5. Support agroecology and multifunctional farming
The RURALIZATION project has filled a research gap in rural development. The specific impact of new generations in their function as changemakers in rural areas has been identified and its dynamics have been clarified. Newcomers, new entrants into farming and innovative farm successors each contribute to the development of innovations, the enhancement of social and cultural capital and the emergence of cooperation and networks. RURALIZATION shows the way they impact rural development and may lead to flip the virtuous circle of decline towards one of positive rural dynamics. A novel understanding of these dynamics can help politicians and changemakers to engage in practical action and can support legislation, including at the EU level to make the CAP more favourable tot rural regeneration.
There is hope that the dynamics of rural renewal by new generations as described in the RURALIZATION project will be used for practical political action in a wide context. The access to land partners in the consortium have already started to work with the results in their policy communication as well as in cooperating with local municipalities which for some of them is a new scope of activity. The scientific partners have already published a considerable number of papers based on RURALIZATION empirical work and will continue to do so since the empirical material is far from being exploited exhaustively. But it is hoped that the main impact of the RURALIZATION project will lie in progresses in the overall improvement of rural development policies. To this end the RURALIZATION deliverables and the website offer practical material for the most different situations and types of action.
Eurostat (2020) projects that the population of Europe’s urban regions will increase by 8.6 million persons and of predominantly rural regions will fall by 6.8 million.
RURALIZATION is based on the premise that rural regeneration is needed to generate opportunities for new generations of existing and potential rural inhabitants. Newcomers and new entrants into farming are key players in bringing innovation into rural areas. RURALIZATION looks at how farming can be part of this new rural reality created by ruralisation and devotes particular attention to access to land, as well as wider issues around facilitating new entrants and succession.
The main policy recommendations are the following:
1. Welcome the change: new generations make a difference
2. Look for the weak signals: find place-based strategies
3. Concerted action is needed
4. Focus on cultural and social capital
5. Support agroecology and multifunctional farming
The RURALIZATION project has filled a research gap in rural development. The specific impact of new generations in their function as changemakers in rural areas has been identified and its dynamics have been clarified. Newcomers, new entrants into farming and innovative farm successors each contribute to the development of innovations, the enhancement of social and cultural capital and the emergence of cooperation and networks. RURALIZATION shows the way they impact rural development and may lead to flip the virtuous circle of decline towards one of positive rural dynamics. A novel understanding of these dynamics can help politicians and changemakers to engage in practical action and can support legislation, including at the EU level to make the CAP more favourable tot rural regeneration.
There is hope that the dynamics of rural renewal by new generations as described in the RURALIZATION project will be used for practical political action in a wide context. The access to land partners in the consortium have already started to work with the results in their policy communication as well as in cooperating with local municipalities which for some of them is a new scope of activity. The scientific partners have already published a considerable number of papers based on RURALIZATION empirical work and will continue to do so since the empirical material is far from being exploited exhaustively. But it is hoped that the main impact of the RURALIZATION project will lie in progresses in the overall improvement of rural development policies. To this end the RURALIZATION deliverables and the website offer practical material for the most different situations and types of action.
RURALIZATION developed conceptual guidelines and an assessment framework. Key concepts are regeneration, resilience, innovation and capital frameworks. Gender issues are addressed. A guide for practitioners is developed.
Over 1500 observations of relevant megatrends, trends and weak signals, including estimations of their impacts, have been analysed to produce trend cards for 10 megatrends, 20 trends and 30 weak signals (www.ruraltrends.eu).
Dream futures of over 2000 young people (18-30 years) have been analysed including the dream future location, earning a living, preferred lifestyle and accommodation and any major obstacles they foresee between dream and reality, including the impact of COVID-19. All types of (rural) regions are the object of future dreams, but they differ by lifestyle, livelihood and the obstacles foreseen for specific types of regions.
Dreams and trends have been discussed in 20 regional stakeholder workshops to discuss the potential to make these dreams come true to enable rural regeneration. Interviews in these regions took place to study key drivers to propose policies.
The diversity of contexts in 10 EU member states is analysed. The main issues for new entrants into farming include access to land, openness and integration into rural communities, compatibility with existing farmers, absence of policies addressed to them, and access to training. Part of these aspects are also relevant for rural newcomers.
Promising practices relating to facilitating rural newcomers, new entrants into farming and farm succession have been studied and comparatively analysed by 30 case studies in 11 countries. Regional workshops in 20 rural contexts discussed the uptake of promising practices in other regions.
For many members of new generations access to land is a major obstacle in starting with farming or forestry. RURALIZATION addresses legal and policy context in all EU member states and 8 specific activities, developments in land markets and land holdings, and (3) innovative, bottom-up, practices, by analysing 64 existing practices and by developing 10 pilot actions on 5 land uses. Both policies and markets are not favourable to new entrants into farming. The innovative practices address the access to land pathway.
RURALIZATION has developed both a handbook for local authorities on supporting access to land and a good practice guide for rural newcomers and new entrants to farming. National proposals for the Common Agricultural Policies are analysed in relation to generational renewal and proposals for improvement have been proposed. Activities to promote policies have been executed.
A wide variety of Dissemination & Communication activities took place, including national and international conferences and a social media campaign.
Over 1500 observations of relevant megatrends, trends and weak signals, including estimations of their impacts, have been analysed to produce trend cards for 10 megatrends, 20 trends and 30 weak signals (www.ruraltrends.eu).
Dream futures of over 2000 young people (18-30 years) have been analysed including the dream future location, earning a living, preferred lifestyle and accommodation and any major obstacles they foresee between dream and reality, including the impact of COVID-19. All types of (rural) regions are the object of future dreams, but they differ by lifestyle, livelihood and the obstacles foreseen for specific types of regions.
Dreams and trends have been discussed in 20 regional stakeholder workshops to discuss the potential to make these dreams come true to enable rural regeneration. Interviews in these regions took place to study key drivers to propose policies.
The diversity of contexts in 10 EU member states is analysed. The main issues for new entrants into farming include access to land, openness and integration into rural communities, compatibility with existing farmers, absence of policies addressed to them, and access to training. Part of these aspects are also relevant for rural newcomers.
Promising practices relating to facilitating rural newcomers, new entrants into farming and farm succession have been studied and comparatively analysed by 30 case studies in 11 countries. Regional workshops in 20 rural contexts discussed the uptake of promising practices in other regions.
For many members of new generations access to land is a major obstacle in starting with farming or forestry. RURALIZATION addresses legal and policy context in all EU member states and 8 specific activities, developments in land markets and land holdings, and (3) innovative, bottom-up, practices, by analysing 64 existing practices and by developing 10 pilot actions on 5 land uses. Both policies and markets are not favourable to new entrants into farming. The innovative practices address the access to land pathway.
RURALIZATION has developed both a handbook for local authorities on supporting access to land and a good practice guide for rural newcomers and new entrants to farming. National proposals for the Common Agricultural Policies are analysed in relation to generational renewal and proposals for improvement have been proposed. Activities to promote policies have been executed.
A wide variety of Dissemination & Communication activities took place, including national and international conferences and a social media campaign.
There is more emphasis on the generational renewal of rural areas, such as in the Long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas. RURALIZATION provides tools for stakeholders to take on this challenge.
Insight in the dream futures of the youth is a novel approach resulting in key insights into the ways local stakeholders can act to attract new generations and remove the barriers between dreams and current reality. Workshops with local stakeholders has put this on the agenda in 20 regions, and this has been followed-up by interviews and further analysis.
The analysis of case studies on promising practices has provided inspiration for other regions providing potential to impact by promising practices beyond their original contexts.
Next to providing insight into current innovative practices, RURALIZATION has developed novel practices for providing access to land. This has been discussed in 10 regional contexts to promote impact of novel ways to provide access to land. RURALIZATION addressed policymakers, in particular to stress the lack of adequate legal and policy arrangements tackling access to land.
Policy design and assessment activities included the development of a good practice guide for rural newcomers & new entrants to farming, a handbook for policymakers, policy approaches to support rural dream futures of the youth and policy assessment and communication of lessons learned.
Dissemination & communication included grass-root events and conferences for policymakers and two international conferences. A massive open online course has been developed.
Insight in the dream futures of the youth is a novel approach resulting in key insights into the ways local stakeholders can act to attract new generations and remove the barriers between dreams and current reality. Workshops with local stakeholders has put this on the agenda in 20 regions, and this has been followed-up by interviews and further analysis.
The analysis of case studies on promising practices has provided inspiration for other regions providing potential to impact by promising practices beyond their original contexts.
Next to providing insight into current innovative practices, RURALIZATION has developed novel practices for providing access to land. This has been discussed in 10 regional contexts to promote impact of novel ways to provide access to land. RURALIZATION addressed policymakers, in particular to stress the lack of adequate legal and policy arrangements tackling access to land.
Policy design and assessment activities included the development of a good practice guide for rural newcomers & new entrants to farming, a handbook for policymakers, policy approaches to support rural dream futures of the youth and policy assessment and communication of lessons learned.
Dissemination & communication included grass-root events and conferences for policymakers and two international conferences. A massive open online course has been developed.