From Serbia to Wales, incentives ranging from support for a new house through to improved genetics for dairy cows are being offered to farmers to stop the drift from the land.
by NORMAN DUNN
A phrase you’ll come across a lot when reading about European agriculture is “drift from the land.”
This is not just a farming problem. Local politicians worry about it, too – as well as the mostly elderly people left in dwindling country communities. There, the services once taken for granted, such as primary schools, grocery stores, clinics, public transport services or that lifeline for almost every countryside driver, the friendly neighbourhood auto workshop, are disappearing fast.