Access to land is the first step to becoming a farmer and, too often, the hardest one. Across Europe, young people who want to grow food, protect the land and launch their business find few opportunities to begin. Farmland is expensive, scarce, or bound by complex legal and inheritance systems that delay transfers and discourage early succession.
The EU Strategy for Generational Renewal in Agriculture, launched in October 2025, places land at the heart of its vision, helping new farmers gain a foothold and ensuring that Europe’s farmland remains productive, fair and sustainable for generations to come.
Why land access matters
Land is the backbone of Europe’s food security, rural economy and environment. It sustains biodiversity, underpins millions of jobs and keeps rural communities alive. Yet access remain uneven.
Structural challenges continue to limit opportunities for new entrants:
- Most older farmers own their land, while younger ones depend on leases, managing millions of hectares as tenants (15 million) rather than owners (10 million).
- In 2024, the average price of arable land in the EU was €15,224 per hectare of arable land, exceeding €200,000 in some Member States.
- Rental costs remain significant, averaging €295 per hectare of arable land across the EU in 2024, and reaching much higher levels in some regions.
- Speculative purchases can drive up prices and further restrict access for newcomers.
- Complex inheritance rules, land fragmentation and limited leasing opportunities continue to hinder access to farmland.
Without easier and fairer access to land, Europe risks losing not only its next generation of farmers, but also the resilience of its food systems and the vitality of its rural communities.
The analytical brief explores the demography of EU farms, the structural characteristics of farms managed by young farmers and their economic performance.
A European strategy for lasting change
The EU Strategy for Generational Renewal in Agriculture brings together actions designed to improve access to land and facilitate farm succession across Europe.
The Strategy promotes greater transparency, long-term planning and fairer conditions for land use and transfer through a range of measures, including:
- a European Land Observatory to improve transparency, monitor market developments and support informed policymaking;
- national reforms for earlier succession, longer leases agreements and more favourable taxation frameworks, alongside measure to curb speculative acquisitions, steered through the European Semester;
- targeted investment support and financial tools under the future Common Agricultural Policy, helping young farmers to buy or improve land.
It also includes a set of voluntary actions at Member State level, such as:
- supporting land mobility schemes that connect landowners with new entrants through leases, partnerships, share farming, and land-matching tools;
- measures to encourage the reuse of abandoned agricultural land;
- encouraging financial institutions to facilitate farmland access and development through tailored financial products that help young farmers overcome financial barriers;
- actions to reduce transaction costs for small farms associated with farmland transfers;
- approaches that prioritise young farmers in the allocation of public land where appropriate.
By combining these actions, the EU aims to make farming a viable and rewarding career once again while strengthening food security, rural vitality and environmental sustainability.
Expert Group on Farmland
In 2026, a call to set up a new expert group on Farmland was launched with the aim to support and advice the European Commission's work on access to land and generational renewal in agriculture. This group will serve as an essential precursor to the European Observatory on Farmland, providing valuable insights that will support its eventual establishment and operations. After the establishment of the Observatory, this expert group will also become one of its pillars.
Its creation reflects growing recognition of farmland access as a key challenge for the future of European agriculture, as highlighted by the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, the European Parliament’s resolution on Generational renewal in the EU farms of the future, the Vision for Agriculture and Food, and the Strategy for Generational Renewal in Agriculture.
The Expert Group will:
- provide advice, expertise and input for policy initiatives relating to access to land and farmland regulation;
- contribute to studies and projects related to farmland, including the pilot project for the EU Observatory on Farmland;
- facilitate the exchange of experiences and good practices on land mobility services, alternative ownership and business transfer models, land banks, the reuse of abandoned land, the involvement of state-owned financial institutions and measures to reduce transaction costs for small farms.
Meetings, membership and documents
The first meeting of the Expert Group is taking place on 28 May 2026. A second meeting is foreseen during the fourth quarter of 2026.
The list of appointed members to form the expert group on farmland is available on the Register of Commission Expert Groups, including access to relevant documents.
Towards a European Observatory on Farmland
The future European Observatory on Farmland is one of the actions announced in the Vision for Agriculture and Food and further supported through the Strategy for Generational Renewal in Agriculture.
The Observatory is expected to enhance transparency and cooperation in areas such as:
- land transactions and transfers of land-use rights;
- farmland prices and market trends;
- changes in land use;
- loss of agricultural and natural land.
It will contribute to a better understanding of farmland markets across the European Union and help Member States take informed decisions concerning farmland regulation and management.
The Observatory is currently being prepared through a dedicated pilot project. During this preparatory phase, the Expert Group on Farmland contributes with expertise and provides stakeholder perspectives that will support the future development of the Observatory.
Solutions to improve access to land taking root across Europe
The EU CAP Network’s Assessment of Generational Renewal Strategies across Member States (2025) has identified innovative approaches already helping improve access to land and facilitate generational renewal.
Examples include:
- Farm transfer and succession schemes that simplify early handovers, giving retiring farmers security and successors a viable start.
- Land banks and matching platforms that connect available land with prospective farmers, keeping farmland in productive use.
- Public guarantees and tailored loan schemes that reduce barriers to purchasing or leasing land.
- Cooperative and shared-use models that allow farmers to pool land, equipment and expertise, fostering inclusion and efficiency.
These experiences demonstrate that practical solutions already exist across Europe. When supported by effective policies and cooperation between public authorities, farmers and local communities, they can help make access to land more open and accessible for future generations.