Italia: today’s young farmers speak the language of business

“The real challenge is not to prove that farming can be an opportunity for the younger generations. Young people are already proving this every day. The challenge is to remove the obstacles that still hinder generational renewal today, starting with access to land, credit and excessive bureaucracy. The top priority remains income. Without income, there can be no generational renewal.”

Enrico Parisi

Unlike in other Mediterranean countries, where the debate centres mainly on young people returning to the countryside, in Italia the issue seems to be a different one: how to make a farm economically sustainable in an increasingly complex environment. The answer, increasingly, lies in multifunctionality. Agritourism, the processing of raw materials, direct sales, e-commerce, renewable energy, educational activities, hospitality and high value-added production. These are no longer merely complementary activities, but essential components of the business model for many agricultural enterprises.

According to Coldiretti, multifunctionality is one of the key innovations that have transformed the sector over the last 25 years. Today, the Italian agri-food system – including related and support activities – generates over 255 billion euros in value, and Italia has become the European leader precisely in multifunctional activities. “Young people have understood this evolution better than anyone else,” observes Parisi. “They were the first to realise that innovation and multifunctionality can be extraordinary tools for boosting the competitiveness of farms and creating new income opportunities.”

But innovation does not mean abandoning tradition. On the contrary, it is often from tradition that the most innovative ideas arise.

This is exactly what happened in Lucignano, a small town in the Val di Chiana area of Arezzo, where the Trasolini family’s farm has transformed a product destined for the bin into a range of natural cosmetics, making sustainability and diversification its hallmark.

The story is told by Jacopo, who today runs, alongside his father, the Victor & Rose estate – a business comprising almost seven hectares of vineyards, arable land, olive groves, woodland and a holiday farm converted from an old farmhouse. But to reduce his business to these figures would be misleading, because what makes his experience so interesting is not so much the size of the estate as the way in which it has been reimagined.

“What I like is the multifunctionality,” he says. “If we can integrate different activities, we create an ecosystem that is sustainable from both an environmental and an economic perspective.”

The idea that sets Victor & Rose apart today stems from a product the market didn’t want. For decades, the Trasolini family has cultivated around fifty kiwi plants, introduced in the 1970s by Jacopo’s grandfather – originally from the province of Rome – after he realised that the soil in the Val di Chiana offered favourable conditions for a crop that was, at the time, unusual for the area. Even today, those plants continue to bear fruit, but part of the harvest was inevitably excluded from the market: fruit that was too small to be sold.

The first solution was to turn them into fruit juices for the guests at the farm holiday accommodation, which opened in 2010. But even that process left a residue: kiwi pulp.

“We liked the idea of not wasting a raw ingredient with such high nutritional value,” says Jacopo. That’s where the idea came from. The family remembered a traditional remedy: their grandmother and mother used to apply kiwi to their skin, just as others used slices of cucumber. By exploring that practice further and collaborating with an artisan workshop in Cortona, the family developed a range of cosmetics made from kiwi pulp and extra virgin olive oil. Today, those products are sold directly from the farm and online, transforming waste into a new source of income.

However, this initiative should not be seen merely as an exercise in the circular economy. It represents the way in which a new generation of entrepreneurs views agriculture: not limiting themselves to primary production, but increasing the added value of what already exists, by developing new products, tapping into new markets and strengthening the farm’s identity.

It is the same principle that has guided the development of the entire family business. Today, Victor & Rose is not just a winery. Alongside the nearly seven hectares of vineyards, there is a seven-bedroom farm holiday accommodation, wine production, kiwi fruit, a new medicinal herb cultivation project, olive groves, arable land, woodland, direct sales and a tourism business built around experiencing the local area. Investments also follow this approach: solar panels, new facilities for drying aromatic herbs and a gradual diversification of production.

“Multifunctionality allows us to create an ecosystem that is sustainable from both an environmental and an economic perspective,” explains Trasolini. “If the vineyard suffers from a spring frost one year, we can rely on the farm holiday business, cosmetics or other activities. Diversification means spreading the risk.”

This is a concept that echoes the views expressed by Parisi of Coldiretti. “Young people were the first to realise that innovation and multifunctionality can be extraordinary tools for boosting the competitiveness of farms and creating new income opportunities,” he observes, pointing out that Italia is now the European leader in related agricultural activities.

For Trasolini, however, the change is not limited to the economic model.

“I prefer to talk about generational connection rather than generational change,” he says. “We build on the experience of previous generations and use it as a foundation to develop the business in today’s context. If our grandparents did certain things, there was a reason for it. Our task is to understand what to preserve, what to improve and where to innovate.”

It is a definition that sums up the ongoing transformation well. The aim is not to break with the past, but to reinterpret it. Diversification, Trasolini observes, is not a modern invention: ‘Farmers of old used to grow a bit of everything. They kept livestock, had vineyards and grew cereals. That was their way of spreading the risk.’ Today, that principle remains valid, but it must contend with a global market, much higher investment levels and a far more complex regulatory framework. And it is precisely here that the main difficulties facing the new generation of agricultural entrepreneurs come to the fore.

Whilst multifunctionality represents the business community’s response to the sector’s growing instability, the path to achieving it remains far from straightforward. For young people who choose to invest in agriculture, the first hurdle continues to be access to capital.

This is an issue that emerges very clearly both from Jacopo Trasolini’s experience and from Coldiretti’s analysis. “Access to credit was extremely difficult,” says the Tuscan entrepreneur. To renovate the old farmhouse and transform it into the current agritourism business, the family chose not to apply for public funding schemes, which they felt were ill-suited to the project they had in mind, instead financing the investments through bank loans and their own resources.

Securing that funding, however, was not straightforward. “I faced difficulties because I was young and didn’t yet have a credit history. My father, on the other hand, was starting to build one due to his age. We drew up a business plan and approached several banks before finding one willing to believe in the project.” The turning point came when a bank specialising more in the agricultural sector assessed the company’s potential, looking beyond mere financial guarantees. “The hardest part is always getting started. Once you’ve shown that the business works, everything becomes easier.”

This experience highlights a structural problem within the sector. According to Parisi, access to credit is currently one of the main factors limiting generational renewal. ‘Many young people have good ideas, skills and projects, but they are held back by lengthy procedures, complex documentation requirements and a system of guarantees that does little to help those starting from scratch.’ This is why Coldiretti is calling for financial instruments better suited to the realities of modern agriculture, with longer grace periods and an assessment process that places greater emphasis on the quality of the business plan.

The challenge becomes even greater when the young entrepreneur does not inherit a family business.

“Buying or even simply renting land requires an investment that young people are often unable to afford,” observes Parisi. Hence the call to strengthen schemes such as the Agricultural Land Bank, to provide incentives for long-term leases and to facilitate the transfer of farms from farmers approaching retirement to the younger generation. This need is made all the more urgent by the progressive ageing of Italy’s farming population.

Trasolini confirms this view. “Land prices have risen sharply in recent years, but revenues have not grown to the same extent.” Rising production costs, inflation and the effects of international crises are also having an impact. “Agricultural diesel has had a huge impact. The problem is that when we sell the finished product, we are not always able to pass on those increases in the price.”

In this context, diversification also becomes a risk management tool.

“If you grow just one crop and that year’s harvest goes badly, you risk losing everything,” observes Trasolini. “With a variety of activities, you can offset any imbalances. That’s what farmers used to do in the old days, albeit in a completely different context.” A reflection that once again links innovation and tradition: the market changes, technologies change, but the need to spread the risk remains the same.

Alongside the credit sector, the professional profile required of those choosing this career today is also changing.

“The young farmer of 2026 is a well-trained entrepreneur, often with a university degree, who uses advanced technologies, looks to international markets, communicates directly with consumers and invests in sustainability,” observes Parisi. Drones, sensors, satellite systems and artificial intelligence are transforming the way crops are produced, making skills that were, until a few years ago, foreign to the agricultural sector increasingly important.

Trasolini also describes a similar evolution. “In the past, farmers worked the land and sold their produce wholesale. Nowadays, one day you might be in the vineyard, the next welcoming guests to the farm holiday accommodation, then working on content for social media or managing direct sales. You’re no longer just a farmer: you’re running a business.”

A transformation that requires ongoing training. As part of his career, Trasolini has complemented his hospitality studies with courses in marketing, business management, hotel management and compulsory technical training for agricultural and hospitality businesses. “To develop a multifunctional business, you need a wide range of skills. I have built these up over time by drawing on a variety of experiences.”

According to Coldiretti, it is precisely this development that represents the challenge for the coming years: to build an education system capable of training entrepreneurs who can combine digital innovation, sustainability, economic management and traditional agricultural skills. This is because the generational transition concerns not only those who will work the land, but above all those who will be able to lead increasingly complex and competitive agricultural businesses.

*This article is part of the European collaborative journalism project “Pulse”