Agriculture, the charge of 30 young people

With an epochal return, which has not occurred since the industrial revolution, there has been a race for land for almost 30 thousand young people who in 2016/2017 presented an application in Italy for the settlement in agriculture of the Rural Development Plans (Psr) of the European Union, with as many as 61% concentrated in the south and in the islands and 19% in the center and the rest in the north. These are the words that Coldiretti uses to illustrate the results of the "Back to the Earth" study presented at the first "Agriculture Open Day" in Bari. % in the last five years based on MIUR data compiled by the association of direct growers.

"An epochal change is underway that has not occurred since the industrial revolution", said the president of Coldiretti Roberto Moncalvo in underlining that "the profession of the earth is no longer considered the last resort of those who have no education and are afraid to open up to the world, but it is the new path of the future for educated young generations with a desire to do a lot". This is demonstrated by the fact that - Moncalvo specified - the applications presented to date already exceed by about 44% the total number of settlements envisaged for the entire programming up to 2020 according to the analysis of Coldiretti on regional data.

According to a recent Coldiretti/Ixè survey, in 57 percent of cases today they would prefer to manage an agritourism rather than work in a multinational company (18 percent) or be a bank clerk (18 percent). To support aspiring fellow entrepreneurs, the young people of Coldiretti have also set up a special task force that operates at a local level with tutors, training courses and advice for accessing credit. A path in 10 steps to be successful in the fields: the first step is to have a clear business idea of ​​the type of entrepreneur you intend to become around which to build a development project, then you need to study the territory carefully, available resources, market, competitors and regulations in force, then we enter the actual design phase with the verification of the feasibility by drawing up a business plan with the help of suitable specialists capable of giving credibility to the project and allowing the request for financing which represents the fifth stage of the process together with the subsequent verification of the possibility of accessing private or public resources, once the credit institution to rely on or the public tender to which to compete has been identified. The last stages are the search for the necessary guarantees for the granting of loans also with the advice and collaboration of CreditAgri, the Coldiretti guarantee system for farms. The goal, which then becomes the starting point of the enterprise, is the realization of the project for which energy, enthusiasm and concentration are needed, as well as a certain amount of patience for the inevitable bureaucracy that agricultural entrepreneurs - explains Coldiretti - subtracts at least 100 working days each year.

Ma among the major obstacles to overcome there is also the high cost of land given that – explains a Coldiretti analysis on Eurostat data – arable land in Italy is the most expensive in Europe with an average price of 40.153 euros per hectare: ranging from 17.571 euros in Sardinia to 30.830 euros in Puglia, from 40.570 euros in Lazio to 42.656 in Tuscany, from 65.759 in Lombardy to 68.369 in Veneto up to the European record in Liguria with 108 euros per hectare.

Agricultural land for a value of 9,9 billion in Italy is in the hands of public administrations which have even increased the value of these assets by 31% in the last fifteen years according to the analysis by Coldiretti on Istat data. Entrusting these lands to young farmers - Coldiretti proposes - would remove the improper task of cultivating the land from the Public Administration, but above all it would have the advantage of facilitating access to young people for whom the lack of availability of land to cultivate represents the main barrier to entry into the sector.

 COLDIRETTI'S TEN GOLDEN RULES FOR SUCCESS IN THE FIELDS

1)    Have a clear idea of ​​what you want to do

2)    Study territory, markets and regulations

3)    Design a business plan

4)    Draw a map of funding sources

5)    Identify the bank or public tender to contact

6)    Check the access possibilities to the resources

7)    Look for guarantees for financing with CreditAgri

8)    Present the project to access bank credit

9)    Present the project to access public funds

10)  Realize the project

THE MAP OF THE EARTH YOUTH RACE

Source: Coldiretti elaboration as at 1 April 2018