National Support Centre for Agriculture

Study Days

The first day of the event featured a working session on the current situation in the agricultural land market in France. Particular emphasis was placed on the New Aquitaine region, where Biarritz is located.

The second day was dedicated to study tours to two farms that had acquired some land through FNSafer – the Fédération Nationale des Safer, a national federation of local land management and rural development companies. In both cases, the landowners submitted applications to FNSafer for access to land adjacent to their farms to increase production.

After the applications were approved, FNSafer purchased the land from the local municipality and leased it to interested parties. One of the family farms exemplifies organic fruit and vegetable production using the "field-to-fork" model. Furthermore, the farm has a 24-hour vegetable vending machine. Another study tour took place at a grocery store owned by local farmers, which sells produce directly from the owners' farms.

General Assembly

On the final day, the General Assembly was held, during which the AEIAR Board was elected for the next three years. Bogdan Podgórski will continue as Vice President of AEIAR.

After the General Assembly concluded, the conference session began. Representatives from FNSafer, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), and DG Agri (the European Commission department responsible for shaping and implementing the EU agricultural policy (CAP) and rural development within the European Union) addressed issues of generational renewal and access to agricultural land for young farmers, as well as the European Commission's project on the European Land Observatory.

A few words about FNSafer and AEIAR

SAFER (Societés d'Aménagement Foncier et d'Établissement Rural) are French state-owned companies that regulate the agricultural and forestry land market. Their responsibilities include, among others, managing the agricultural land market, overseeing agricultural land transactions, both sales and leases, protecting land from speculation, supporting agricultural development, providing assistance to young farmers, and protecting the natural environment.

The European Association of Rural Development Institutions (AEIAR) was founded in 1966 and is one of the oldest European associations. AEIAR currently comprises institutions from Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, Latvia, and Spain.

Poland has been an active member of AEIAR since 2003. Membership in AEIAR enables, on the one hand, the exchange of information between individual European countries on the current situation in the agricultural land market and, on the other, the exchange of experiences in the management of public and private agricultural land.