Protesting the future: The evolution of the European farmer

TY - JOUR

T1 - Protesting the future

T2 - The evolution of the European farmer

AU - Mc Loughlin, Eimear Theresa

PY - 2024/10/1

Y1 - 2024/10/1

N2 - Recent farmer protests across Europe demonstrate the complex challenges facing modern agriculture. This article examines the human story behind these protests. It explores how farmers’ roles have changed from respected innovators and providers to a group caught between environmental demands, economic pressures and shifting societal expectations. Neoliberal policies, green regulations and new workforce patterns have precipitated an identity crisis among European farmers. Their protests are not just about money but also about deep-seated anxieties concerning their place in a rapidly changing world. Farmers struggle to balance traditions with new environmental imperatives, to maintain viable livelihoods in a global market and their unease with an increasingly diverse rural workforce. European farming is at a crossroads, pointing towards possible paths for a future.

AB - Recent farmer protests across Europe demonstrate the complex challenges facing modern agriculture. This article examines the human story behind these protests. It explores how farmers’ roles have changed from respected innovators and providers to a group caught between environmental demands, economic pressures and shifting societal expectations. Neoliberal policies, green regulations and new workforce patterns have precipitated an identity crisis among European farmers. Their protests are not just about money but also about deep-seated anxieties concerning their place in a rapidly changing world. Farmers struggle to balance traditions with new environmental imperatives, to maintain viable livelihoods in a global market and their unease with an increasingly diverse rural workforce. European farming is at a crossroads, pointing towards possible paths for a future.

KW - Agriculture

KW - EU Farming

KW - Bureaucracy

KW - Audit culture

KW - Sustainable agriculture

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85205940123&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/1467-8322.12911

DO - 10.1111/1467-8322.12911

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0268-540X

VL - 40

SP - 3

EP - 6

JO - Anthropology Today

JF - Anthropology Today

IS - 5

ER -