If it's the simple life you're after, don't go into farming. This might be one of the key takeaways from the wave of protests that have hit various EU nations as Belgium becomes the latest to see roadblocks and tractors laying siege to public administrations.
The pastoral picture of tending the land and living off nature's bounty has been consigned to novels of another century; agriculture in modern Europe is on the front line of many of the crises that rock the world we live in. Yet at the same time, the gap between public perception and the reality of farming has grown, with modern supermarkets putting convenience and cost at the centre of their business model.
Rare are the occasions where we find shopping aisles without the usual array of products from all corners of the world. Only at the height of global tensions (or a pandemic) are shortages seen on the shelves. These freak instances aside, our system of supply has truly conquered the natural order, so that "seasonal produce" stays on the menu year-round. Supermarkets look more or less the same no matter what month you enter.
But with agriculture increasingly facing environmental, economic, and social pressures that extend beyond their local milieu, the sector's sustainability is looking less certain every day. In fact the model has already been pushed away from the traditional conception as farmers realise they don't stand a chance in the long term unless they go big.
For Wallonia, this has seen the number of farms fall from 29,000 in 1991 to 13,000 in 2021, though the average size of farm in the region has more than doubled (about 60 hectares today). Besides the move away from small-scale operations, even more striking is the complete absence of a younger generation in the business: less than 5% of farmers in Wallonia today are under 35.
Figures such as these highlight the industry's plight. But although there are common grievances that unite the farming community across the bloc, regional disparities also dilute the impact of protests; the concerns of Flemish farmers are on several points distinct to those in Wallonia, dissipating their frustrations and making it easier to pass the buck to national or super-national policymakers.
Whilst traffic is held up on several of Beglium's main motorways, many are asking what will come of their efforts, with the EU's import laws and Common Agricultural Policy being the root of discontent. On this front, the EU last week launched the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture, though whether this can assuage the immediate anger is unclear.
We can hear the concerns of farmers, but who will respond? Let @Orlando_tbt know.
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