Agriculture: the seeds of our life

Nowadays, young people still view agriculture as a dead-end career that entails life-long labour on a farm with no opportunities. However, it does not have to be this way.
With public investments to support young entrepreneurs in agriculture coming from the European Union and national sources, profitable careers could await European young populations.
Indeed, agriculture is more than just farming the soil and rearing animals. The sector offers career opportunities in research, environmental management, financial management, engineering and other technical areas mostly unexplored.
Therefore, a younger generation can help introduce new technologies whilst also learning from traditional methods, holding the potential to offer the perfect fusion of new and traditional solutions to some of the society’s biggest challenges, such as youth unemployment and environmental sustainability.
Those who become farmers now have the opportunity to be the generation able to end world hunger and alleviate malnutrition, as well as helping the sector adapt to climate change.
There are many challenges ahead for the sector but if young people are offered education in agriculture, a voice at policy level, in the media, and are engaged with innovations then the agriculture industry can attract youth again.
Plenty of evidence shows us that agriculture provides youth a viable way to harvest success and grow a sustainable future. In other words, youth can, and should, choose agriculture mainly for five reasons:
Agriculture matters to the future of development: farming is up to four times more effective than other sectors in reducing poverty and, on the other hand, the world is counting on agriculture to produce more nutritious food for - and improve the livelihoods of - a blooming population, especially the poorest;
Agriculture can be a gold mine for young and passionate entrepreneurs: of instance in Uganda, a young team with the World Bank and UNICEF used a mobile and web-based app to swiftly help almost 200k farmers save their bananas — a staple food for Ugandans — from a vicious disease. Countries like Kenya and Rwanda are also eager to boost productivity through information and communication technologies and other creative solutions. Agriculture, in the developing world, has become a field vibrant with effective innovations, due to a growing number of young techie minds that make it happen. A new term has been coined to describe these new businesses: “Agribusiness”. So why not take it to Europe aswell?
Agronomical research needs more young brains: Numerous stories from East Africa and other places have shown that research revolutionizes agriculture and transforms livelihoods. Today, more than before, climate change and a growing demand for nutritious food are for fresh ideas and renewed knowledge to explore ICT in agriculture, foster climate-smart agriculture and innovate in the sector to power future growth;
Agriculture can be inclusive: Europe is particularly boosting social farming, a type of husbandry that uses land resources to provide social or educational care services for vulnerable groups of people (e.g. pet therapy centers, the Italian kindergarten “agriasilo”);
You are in good company: the trend of youth choosing agriculture is growing worldwide, not only in African countries but also in Armenia and Brazil, which are particularly investing in youth farmers.
 
The general objective of this project is to contribute to decreasing youth unemployment and increasing social and economical cohesion in Europe through agriculture. Still, agriculture is an important expression of the links between the long-term traditions and the new economy, based on technology and hard work. Moreover, it provides a critical contribution to the processes of local development because it translates development strategies into practical arrangements, not only in economical terms (e.g. increased job positions), but also in social (in case of social entrepreneurship) and environmental growth.
With this project, we want to ensure young people take into account farming again as a way to promote new job opportunities and reduce youth unemployment, thus showing agriculture not only as a field-based work, but also as an entrepreneurial opportunity to apply acquired competences and innovative thought. We aim not only to show them how other young entrepreneur have made a living out of farming in an innovative way, but also to make them reflect about the vital importance of agronomy in our daily life and its part in the preservation of the environment.
Sharing the view in line with the Europe 2020 priorities for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, we will also explore the concept of sustainable development and its economic, environmental and social dimensions.