Farm unemployment set to skyrocket

In Wageningen, researchers from Alterra believe that the coming years will see more and more farms standing empty and disused, the Financieele Dagblad reports. According to the researchers, farms will empty quicker and on a larger scale than offices and shops. This is due to the decrease in farming, scaling and modernization. Currently, more and more farms are being offered on the housing market as 'fixer-uppers', while there is actually no market for this, according to Marcel de Rooij of the agrarian interest group ZLTO. These are locations that used to belong to farmers "who stopped years ago."

According to the report from Alterra, the number of agri- and horticulture businesses has dropped with 31 percent since 2000. Yearly, the numbers decrease by three percent. The report foresees that vacancies of farms will go up to 32 million square meters in 2030. This would mean that between 16,000 and 24,000 farmers will stop working in their profession.