October 13, 2022
Dynamic, effective, but above all smart. Millennials are investing (successfully) in the land, founding purpose-driven businesses.
Thanks to the effect of social media, this once snubbed profession is now gaining more and more followers.
First there were lawyers, doctors, engineers. Then came chefs, stylists, influencers. Time passed, as did these trends, but at the top of the pyramid there remained a profession that no one had the courage to undertake: the farmer.
Yet, something is changing. In 2020, the year of the outbreak of the pandemic and the first lockdown, out of 86 thousand businesses founded in Italy by young people under 35 , over 6 thousand were active in agricultural services, immediately after Retail Trade (over 10 thousand) and Specialized Construction (over 8 thousand).
Young Italians know what they are doing, more than their European peers. According to the latest Eurostat data , farms run by under-35s in Italy generate much more standard production per hectare than the main European countries: +36% compared to Germany, +57% compared to France, +60% compared to Spain.
Young Italian farmers also do better than their compatriots over 55, with a 40% higher yield per hectare (4,964 versus 3,546 euros/hectare). Although the number of farms managed by older people is greater in absolute terms, on average their farms are significantly smaller than those managed by young people. In short: young Italian farmers know how to manage larger farms more efficiently.
If being a farmer pays quite well, why is the revolution proceeding so slowly? "To make the agricultural revolution, we must first activate a cultural revolution," explains Davide Scaravilli, a young farmer who is part of the Boniviri project. As long as the figure of the farmer is associated with the idea of a poor person, young people will continue to snub the land. "We must convey the message that agriculture, despite the difficulties, is a beautiful sector that is worth investing in, innovating, to obtain satisfaction and economic returns. It is a question of reputation, and we must all work together to change it. This is our greatest challenge; we will only win if we learn to network." The problem of reputation, in short, is first and foremost cultural. Change is possible by networking and learning to use the (very powerful) tool of social media.
Dynamic, effective and above all smart. As a recent article in the Financial Times also shows, the new generation of farmers is gaining hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. Twenty-three-year-old Will Young – also known as “Farmer Will” – has 900,000 on TikTok, Jessica West ( Miss Farming ) and Drew Steel ( @dr3wmeister ) have a similar audience. On these platforms they talk about their working days every day: from cows to milk, from fields to plow to sheep to shear. In the era of the “ Great Resignation ”, in which more and more young people are leaving well-paid jobs in search of a more balanced life, the profession of farmer seems increasingly “cool”.
The drive that drives young people to invest in the land is authentic and profound. It is a question of dreams. Like Giovanni Messina, who continues his father's project for better viticulture on the slopes of Etna, or Roberto Carbone, who chose to stay in Sicily rather than move to the North, launching a company of spices and aromatic herbs. A business must generate economic satisfaction, of course, but above all a positive impact: this is the reason why many young people are deciding to leave jobs they do not like, even if well paid, to try to solve the problems of our society.
The Impact Revolution , as Ronald Cohen calls it in his book Impact: The Revolution That Is Changing Capitalism . A new economic model that puts impact – environmental and social – at the center of corporate development. In Italy, a company structured in this way is called a “Società Benefit” and is often managed by young people. «The profit-with-purpose model», writes Cohen, «is the hallmark of the millennial generation. It is a gentle but inexorable revolution, as shown by the numbers of Benefit Companies in Italy , which have grown a lot during the pandemic period and among these, Boniviri represents one of the most successful examples».
