Luke Ming Flanagan, speaking in the European Parliament, warned that Europe’s farming sector faces a generational crisis and a major funding shortfall. He addressed the agricultural report led by Maria Walsh, urging targeted funding, an ambitious budget and measures to restore profitability so young farmers can start and sustain farms.
Key findings and urgency
Luke Ming Flanagan highlights stark figures from the report: the average age of farmers rose from 55 to 57 between 2010 and 2020, and the number of farms run by under-35s fell by 47%. He warns that without action the sector will shrink further and underlines the risk that previous reports have been ignored when implementation did not follow.
Proposed solutions and appeal to colleagues
Flanagan stresses the need for targeted funding, an ambitious budget and policies that put profitability at the heart of farming-whether for public or private goods. He speaks as a parent, saying under current conditions he would not advise young people to enter farming, and he calls on MEP Walt and colleagues to listen: without farmers, there will be no food and no future.
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Thank you Chair, unfortunately our Shadow can't be here today for the same reason as the last day, he's just got a newborn baby and things are a little hectic. So I'm here to speak on his behalf, on behalf of our group and we have the same message. First off, thanks to Maria Walsh for a report and for taking into account so many amendments that you're going to have to deal with but there's so many amendments because this is so important and one thing we don't want at the end of this process is that this gets ignored because we have had reports like this before and it's important that we've had reports on it before but after a while you get a little bit sceptical whether it will be implemented but it needs to be, the figures are stark and they're clear to hear, the average age of farmers rose from 55 to 57 between 2010 and 2020, number of farms for people under the age of 35 fell by 47% and we're now looking at a massive shortfall in funding and I'd have to say as a parent myself and looking at my just young adult children, I'd have to say at the moment if they were talking about people who aren't currently in farming, getting into farming, I'd tell them under the current environment they would be insane to get involved in it but that if conditions were improved, if there was targeted funding which is suggested in this report, if there was an ambitious budget, if profitability was at the core of farming, whether that be producing public or private goods, then I would be able to say yeah, go in that direction because if there is profitability and there is some sort of assurance that there's a future, there are so many other benefits to do in this job, you are out working with nature, you're doing something that can be very healthy, not if some people get their way with the pesticides at the moment but you could have a really good future so I think this is a really important report, I hope some of our amendments are taken into account and most importantly MEP Walt, I hope we're actually listened to because we need to be because without farmers we won't have food and without that we don't have a future.
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