Generational renewal in agriculture: What’s the problem represented to be? Deconstructing Policy Representations in Rural Development Programmes across Italian regions

Generational renewal in agriculture has long been declared a priority of European policies, yet little critical attention has been paid to how the problem is represented and to the implicit assumptions that orient instruments and strategies. This study focuses on the first-settlement aid for young farmers (Measure 6.1) of the Rural Development Programme 2014–2022, one of the most prominent policy tools introduced by the European Union to attract new generations into farming. The analysis comparatively examines how Italian regions have implemented the measure through eligibility requirements, selection criteria, and the exercise of regional discretion, highlighting the diversity of policy implementation. Adopting Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to Be? (WPR) framework, the research focuses on how generational renewal is represented and which subjective, discursive, and lived effects – including unintended ones – emerge from such representation. Methodologically, the study combines qualitative content analysis of regional calls with cluster analysis, enabling the identification of five distinct regional approaches (clusters) to generational renewal, while also capturing commonalities and divergences. Results reveal that the dominant representation constructs the “desirable” young farmer primarily as the successor who has already inherited the family farm, while marginalising other categories such as new entrants (young individuals with no family farming background) and potential successors (those who may inherit but have not yet done so). Finally, the study deconstructs dominant CAP paradigms on the topic and argues for more inclusive and differentiated strategies capable of recognising multiple entry pathways and sustaining identity-building processes.