Young Farmers 13 minutes

Milking the Future

Vincent is 24 years old and has taken over his family's farm. | Quelle: Vincent Braun

23. Febr. 2026

Food is part of our everyday lives – from our first meal in the morning to our last in the evening. Yet we rarely think about who produces it. Behind these products are farmers and more and more of them are disappearing. But why?

FlorinBraun

Emily MilenaSchroth

LauraWehle

Across Germany and Europe, fewer young people want to become farmers or take over family farms. Long working hours, financial pressure, and the uncertainties of the profession make farming an increasingly unattractive choice. Many farms are closing, and countless others have no successors.

Statistics show that the number of agricultural science students in Germany has risen since 1998/1999, peaking in 2016 with almost 18,000 students. Since then, however, these numbers have been declining. In the winter semester of 2024/2025, the number of enrolled students was only 13,700.

Since the peak in 2016, the number of agricultural science students in Germany has dropped by just over 4,000 students.

Quelle: Statistisches Bundesamt | Diagram created by Laura Wehle with Canva

In this podcast, we speak to Vincent Braun, a young German farmer, to find out why so few people are willing to enter the profession today. For Vincent and his family, the purchase of a milking robot was an enormous relief, significantly easing their daily workload and giving them more flexibility in their everyday lives. By hearing about his experiences and other challenges he faces, we explore the human side of farming and the difficult decisions that the next generation must make.