Who milks the cows when the farmers fall sick? There is only one answer to that question for most: the farmers, or their families. But it is a very different story in two European countries—and while right now, access to sick leave and holidays is determined by postcode, this could soon start to change. Here, ARC2020’s Natasha Foote digs into how these farm relief services work in practice and what the ingredients for success look like for other countries that want to set up similar services for their farmers.
When young Swedish dairy farmer Elisabeth Hiden was invited to Brussels earlier this year for a policy panel discussion, she very nearly didn’t make it. With her husband in bed with the flu, the full weight of the farm and their two young children fell squarely on her shoulders.
The deep irony? Elisabeth was on her way to a conference to talk about the need to set up services for farmers that would mean they could take sick leave and holidays from the non-stop reality of working with livestock who, come rain or shine, must be fed and tended to each and every day.
Yet, if Elisabeth was farming a few hundred kilometres across the Finnish border, or a few thousand kilometres south in France, her story would be very different. And that is because, as things currently stand, it’s the two F’s of Europe that are currently A-grade in offering farmers a way to take days off.
But this could change in the coming years, thanks to a new proposal in the next round of the EU’s farming subsidy programme, the Common Agricultural Policy, which offers Member States the possibility of setting up their own flavour of so-called “farm relief services” to help ease the burden on Europe’s farmers.
It is early days, but—if approved after the long road to CAP negotiations—it could help EU countries take the first tentative steps towards setting up these kinds of services for themselves.
So what could such a system look like in practice?
Too good to be true?
In France, this comes in the form of non-profit organisation created and managed by the farmers themselves. Set up by the French young farmers’ association back in 1972, the main purpose of the member-funded service is to provide manpower to replace farm owners and their eligible family members when they are away.
In this way, the service helps “contribute to the peace of mind” of farmers, according to Karim Cheurfa Molinier, Advisor for Replacement Service France.
The organisation, counting almost 65,000 members from all types of farms, employs 18,000 replacement agents via 300 local structures across France. This adds up to about 5 million hours of cover each year.
This includes both unplanned absences, due to illness or an accident, as well as planned leave, for maternity or paternity leave, training, and even holidays.
The benefits of such a system are manifold, according to Karim. Not only does it lift a mental load for farmers, giving a breather away from the stresses of farming life—it also helps pave the way for the next generation of farmers into the sector.
On the one hand, it makes farming more attractive to new entrants, bringing working conditions on par with other sectors.
But it also plays a very practical role in bringing new life into the sector. This is because, by training the replacement agents, relief services help open the world of farming to potential farmers-to-be with hands-on experience and professional development, helping to “build career paths for replacement agents.”
In this way, Karim has seen many of the trained replacement agents go on to forge paths in the farming sector for themselves.
Different flavours of farm relief
While different in flavour, the story is similar in the second ‘F’ of Europe: Finland.
Unlike France, the Finnish farm relief system is integrated into their social security system. But, like France, the system is long running, dating back to the 1960s. And, according to young farmer Aleksis Kyro, the programme is still going strong.
It means that he and his sister, who took over the family’s mixed livestock and arable farm together, have never known life without holidays. “It was so normal growing up,” he said. For the young farmer, who is automatically entitled to up to one month away from the farm each year, it means it was just “one less obstacle” in the major decision to take up the reins of the farm.
The programme is so well integrated into farming life that “almost everyone entitled to the services uses them,” according to Päivi Wallin Director at the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution (MELA). That is because relief services are considered “an important part of national security of supply and, in particular, of maintaining farmers’ well‑being”.
In Finland, farmers can choose between a replacement organised by the municipality, or can find their own substitute, compensated for by the local branch of the service. According to Wallin, 86% of farmers opt to use services organised by local units, while 14% arrange substitutes themselves.
Just like in France, substitution is also “crucial for the continuity of agriculture,” according to Wallin, as they “support the balance between work and family life”—often a non-negotiable for the next generation of farmers.
Kyro’s experience illustrates the point well. He describes how, each year, their family took time to travel across Europe for folk music and dance festivals.
Not only did this help him see that farming does not “have to consume every waking minute of your life,” but by participating in these kinds of cultural events, it also helps bolster rural communities and “social cohesion”. “In that sense, we were just like everyone else,” he said.
Meanwhile, as in France, Finland’s support services are tied to higher education facilities and agronomy schools, where students are required to do 80-day work placements. This helps “expose students to the realities of farming,” and may help encourage budding farmers into the fold.
Ingredients for success?
“If you keep it local, professional, and trusted—then a relief service becomes a real tool for farm sustainability.”
Karim Cheurfa Molinier, Advisor for Replacement Service France
So, if countries are looking to set up a farm relief service of their own, what should this look like?
For France’s Karim, the main message is: start small, prove value locally, then scale. “Start farmer-led, locally—then organise and scale with professional organisations,” he stressed.
He lists three main ingredients for success: local proximity and organisation, strong matching/skills, trust through clear rules and financing.
In France, this looks like a network system at departmental, regional and national levels.” This allows decisions to “stay close to the field” and to farmers’ needs, while also keeping a tight connection to workers and candidates that are able to respond quickly when the need arises. This way, the network can cover around 90% of replacement requests.
“Trust comes from clear rules,” he said, stressing the need for “proper handovers” and clearly defined expectations. “That protects everyone and keeps things professional.”
Last, but not least, is upfront and transparent costing. Unlike Finland, France’s relief service is member-funded, which means financing has to be “understandable”. The farmer is billed only the actual cost of replacement, which includes wages, social charges, travel and administrative costs. In some cases there is public support, especially where daily on-call constraints exist, like livestock.
“And very early on, I’d go to public authorities with a clear message: continuity of production, farmer wellbeing, rural jobs—and propose co-funding, especially for sectors with daily constraints.”
Step away from the field to step forward
Yet, for the moment, the current CAP proposal on the table remains just that—a proposal.
And, at a time where the social dimension of the CAP is coming under increasing scrutiny, just how far the farming support system should wade into the more social side of things, especially at a moment when the policy must tighten its belt amid a total overhaul of its support structure, is likely to be a key sticking point in the negotiations to come.
It means that this policy initiative still has a long way to go to get off the ground, and it is likely to be a while before we see all member states rolling out a similar kind of scheme.
But for Sweden’s Elisabeth, the proposal to allow EU countries to tap into CAP funds to create this kind of farm relief service couldn’t come soon enough. “For me, it would be life-changing,” she said.
And her reading is clear: “If you really would like to find new people from the next generation to become farmers, you need to solve this problem.”
In this way, it is perhaps only by stepping away from the field that the sector will be able to step forward into the next generation of farming.
Have some thoughts to share on this topic? We’d love to hear from you on LinkedIn and Bluesky!
More
CAP | EU Watchdog Gears Up To Fight For Fairness in Future Farming Policy
The Future of Seeds: The Power Play Between Patents and New GMOs
How to Cultivate Knowledge for Seed Autonomy? Part 1 – Who Teaches the Seeds?
How Iran war exposes Europe’s dangerous dependency on fertilisers
EU’s Simplification Saga Set to Continue Despite Legal Warnings
Rural Resilience Gathering | Knowledge is the Power to Shape our Rural Futures Together
