Taking over the family farm goes beyond financial burdens. The psychological effects were the focus of this year's Young Farmers' Day this Sunday at the agricultural school in Gilsdorf, which gathered politicians, farmers and experts alike.

Taking over a farm as a young person often brings with it a whole range of restrictions, not just financial ones. In light of this, a German expert from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Bonn was invited to address the intergenerational challenges.

The desire of many young people to take over a farm is certainly there, said Charel Ferring, President of the Luxembourg Rural Youth and Young Farmers in an RTL interview on Monday morning. However, the huge financial and administrative effort does work against that.

"The conditions aren't the same as they used to be. You have to be super certain about the finances, but also of the direction of the business. Is the kind of farming even viable and sustainable in the long term? Sometimes you don't really know where you stand or can be afraid of doing something wrong or forgetting something."

Unfortunately, these administrative requirements are mandatory, which does not make it easy for the sector, says Ferring. Agriculture Minister Martine Hansen and the authorities emphasised on Sunday evening that most of the requirements unfortunately come from Brussels.

As a farmer, you can't help but laugh at the ominous terms of ‘administrative simplification’, as the reality is unfortunately the complete opposite, says Ferring.

Luckily, the administrative efforts aren't decreasing the interest in taking over a farm. Many young people have lots of imaginative ideas for production that are actually needed in the country, but there is a lack of political tailwind. At the same time, these ideas can be met with resistance within the family as words collide between different generations. After all, the vast majority of farms continue to be family businesses.

Ferring draws the conclusion that you really have to be passionate about agriculture to be a farmer nowadays, otherwise the many challenges are hardly manageable.