Consulting, training and assistance, pillars to promote generational change in Spanish agriculture

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas , stressed yesterday, July 4, during the extraordinary Sectoral Conference on generational change, held in Pamplona, that specific advice for young people before, during and after the installation process and in innovation is a key element, among others, to make the sector attractive and profitable to promote generational change in the Spanish countryside . He also considers that a sufficiently early publication of the aid calendars would serve to give security to young people, as well as to highlight the crucial role of cooperatives in promoting this change.

This is a complex issue that depends on multiple factors and that must be addressed, such as profitability expectations, access to farms and financing, training , bureaucracy, the regulatory framework and living conditions in rural areas.

Agri-food knowledge transfer networks

The Conference also stressed the enormous usefulness of exchanging good practices between administrations and the sector and of peer learning , and requested that emphasis be placed on this matter.

As you may recall, there are already initiatives in this regard, included in the work that MAPA is doing to promote the Knowledge and Innovation System in Agriculture (SCIA) , AKIS for short. SCIA-AKIS is the combined organization and flow of knowledge between people, organizations and institutions that use and generate knowledge for use in agriculture and related fields.

The minister, who has shown his absolute respect for the regional initiatives, since this matter is within his competence, has stressed the importance of all of us “collaborating, sharing success stories” to contribute not only to the incorporation, but also to the maintenance of young people and women in agricultural activity.

A crucial aspect, he insisted, is training , to improve the skills to practice the profession, and the exchange of knowledge. Young people, he insisted, must be accompanied by continuous advice.

Generational change in the field

This Sectoral Conference on generational change has also been informed by the conclusions of the High Level Forum on Generational Change held the day before, also in Pamplona, with the organisation and participation of the MAPA.

Among these conclusions, the need for agricultural testing spaces is also mentioned.

Public initiatives to promote generational change in the Spanish countryside

Luis Planas mentioned some of the ministry's initiatives that contribute to strengthening SCIA-AKIS, such as the Cultiva programme, training grants and the creation of the La Vega Innova technological innovation centre, which serve as axes for further progress in the sector's future training strategy and in all regional initiatives.

In this regard, it is worth mentioning the AKIS Advisors Platform, which offers information of interest on AKIS at a national level, includes search engines for agents in the sector and offers a collaborative environment with the network of professionals from the agricultural and agri-food sectors.    

AKIS Advisory Platform: training, financing and innovation in a single consultation point for young farmers

The AKIS Advisors Platform was created as a digital resource of the AKIS Coordinating Body in Spain, which established its structure and functions in Royal Decree 116/2024, of January 30. This coordinating body is co-chaired by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, in order to stimulate the maximum possible coordination and synergy between agricultural policy and science, technology and innovation policy, so that scientific research is put at the service of sectoral needs .

It is a multi-level body with broad representation that includes not only the Public Administrations responsible for the matter, both regional and central, but also the agri-food sector in its broadest version (value chain, consumer, service companies, official associations, advisory entities, technological platforms, etc.). The composition of the Coordinating Body is therefore plural, and recently held the first meeting of the Working Group (WG) on Agri-Food Advisory of the SCIA Coordinating Body. With this meeting, the first of the three working groups of the SCIA Coordinating Body (AKIS) starts. The other two WGs, Agri-Food Training and Coordination of Agri-Food R&D&I, are scheduled to start during the next month of September.