Europe continues to struggle with youth unemployment, which reached a record high in September. An especially interesting response is the return of traditional agriculture:
In Portugal, a growing number of young people, including graduates, have been returning to the land to take up farming. The government is encouraging the trend and now offers six-month paid training agricultural courses for 6,000 people aged between 18 and 35. The number of applicants for such schemes rose to 8,000 in 2012 from just 1,000 in 2008. Some 35 percent had higher education. Greece offers subsidies to new farmers, and also provides state-owned land at a nominal price, or even rent-free, to under 35-year-olds who are prepared to cultivate it.
The road to serfdom, or the road to surfing the dome of another economic bubble?