Source: European Parliament
Property ownership is a Member State competence. Therefore, Member States decide on the adoption and implementation of agricultural land market regulations, provided that the Treaty freedoms are respected.
However, it is necessary to increase transparency and cooperation between Member States on this area, as access to farmland is an essential element for agriculture.
In this regard, as announced in the Vision for Agriculture and Food[1], responding to the European Parliament’s request and following the recommendation from the Strategic Dialogue, the Commission will work towards establishing an ‘EU Observatory for Agricultural Land’, starting with a pilot project this year[2].
It will enhance transparency and cooperation in land transactions and transfers of land use rights, price trends and market behaviour, changes in land use, and loss of agricultural and natural land. The Observatory will also help Member States take informed decisions on the regulation of their farmland markets.
Access to granular data on agricultural land values and rents at EU level is limited. Information on land transactions and transfers of land use rights is not widely compiled, analysed and published across the EU.
Therefore, there is insufficient information to confirm or deny that large foreign investment funds are buying up agricultural land, or that they are determining the cost of land. In this sense, this pilot project will bring clarity to this matter.
Lastly, the Commission is analysing further proposals at EU and at Member States level to facilitate access to land, credit and knowledge for young farmers.
The Generational Renewal strategy, announced in the Vision for Agriculture and Food, will propose concrete and innovative measures in this regard.
- [1] Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions ‘A Vision for Agriculture and Food: Shaping together and attractive farming and agri-food sector for future generations’ COM(2025) 75 final: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52025DC0075
- [2] ‘PP 08 25 01 — EU observatory for agricultural land, control and access to farmland’, as adopted in the European Parliament legislative resolution of 27 November 2024 on the ‘2025 budgetary procedure: Joint text’: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-10-2024-0050_EN.html#