The farming industry may have not been considered an appetizing job option until a few years ago, but it seems that today there is a new appreciation for life and work in the countryside among young Italians.
According to a research carried out by Coldiretti/Sgw, 50% of those under 35 would rather work in a farm than in a bank. Only 23% would choose to work in a bank and 19% in a multinational corporation.
Enrolments in university agrarian and food sciences courses, as well as the number of farming businesses established by the young is on the rise.
“The countryside offers a good quality of life and fair earnings,” said Coldiretti’s Vittorio Sangiorgio.
In the 1980s and 1990s, parents pushed children to leave the countryside to go study at the university, find a good job in a bank or big company with the prospect of immediate and safe earnings. But things seem to be changing with more young people wishing to live the rural life. Why? A healthier lifestyle (50% of respondents) and more freedom (17%).
This return to the land is accompanied by a push for innovation. 36% of people working in the farming business have a university degree. According to Sangiorgio, “Young people who enter the family business or establish their own business bring creativity and added value.”
