When Henk Blok outlines the regions where he has worked over the past 40 years, you would never guess that his adult life has been spent farming. From the US to the former East Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Austria, Mr Blok was a man on the move as he pursued his chosen career. A native of the Netherlands, he now owns and runs a 140-cow dairy farm with his wife in Germany’s Rhineland.

Mr Blok did not grow up in a family of farmers, much less inherit a farm of his own, and so had to jump from farm to farm as he was entering this line of work.

He was keen, but he is aware of farming’s limited appeal to younger generations.

“If you show your kids that this is all work and not much fun, why should they take over this job?” he says. “I see people quitting all the time. Most of them, their sons and daughters are not interested in the business.”

At one time, he even had a business that offered vacation cover to farmers although he stopped the service several years ago, however, partly in order to devote more time to buying his own farm.

He is not alone in noting farming’s declining appeal to younger people — a problem the EU is looking to address through policy initiatives.

In a 2013 EU public consultation, respondents named “ageing and succession” as one of the three main challenges to family farming. The other two were the burden of dealing with red tape, and striking adequate commercial terms with larger trading partners such as supermarket chains.

Family farming represents the bulk of European agriculture. According to 2013 EU statistics, farms on which only family members work, or where they make up more than half the labour force, accounted for more than 95 per cent of the number of holdings and more than 65 per cent of utilised agricultural land.

 Bayer said that farmers in France and Germany were digging up thousands of hectares of rapeseed fields after traces of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) banned for cultivation were found in seeds sold by the company.

There is currently a surplus of garlic on the world market. In Spain, the harvest has been good for a few years in a row, and a new one will start in May. In China, the price of garlic has risen against everyone's expectations as a result of price speculation. The high price of garlic persists and that doesn't make Chinese garlic attractive for export.

The focus of Germany’s economy is on industrial production, but the country is also one of Europe’s leading producers of grains and oilseeds.

There is a growing demand for grapes in Asia, the Middle East and Russia. As a result, volumes on the European market are limited this year. This is even causing some shortages on the market.

There is currently an abundance of peppers on the global market.

 Thirteen more European bison arrived from Germany on May 13 to Bison Hillock in the Southern Carpathians of Romania.

Dr Anthea Jeffery and Terence Corrigan, among others in the pages of the Daily Friend, have at length explained in detail why the so-called “Expropriation” Bill is a dangerous piece of legislation.

When Maria Jung set out to make customary sales calls for her family’s wine estate, she did not expect to be met with refusals. But she returned home to report a disappointing drop in purchases among regular customers.

When environmental activists calling for less pollution sit in the streets, across Europe they are now abused and attacked, arrested and handed extreme and draconian sentences.

Already bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, Europe’s farmers are speaking out against policies they say are contradictory, unfair and leave them worried for the future.

In a High-Level Meeting on the future of wine policy, the CEEV recently presented its strategic vision and potential solutions for how the industry can tackle current and future challenges—primarily declining consumption, rising costs, and climate change to the European Commission.