Old MacDonald Had a Farm… But Who Has It Now? A Gendered Perspective on Policy Reception of Young Farmers under the Common Agricultural Policy in Greece

In light of dwindling numbers of young farmers across the EU, this paper investigates how the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is received by young farmers. Adopting a policy reception approach, we focus on the effects and appropriations of public policy, in this case the CAP, by and on young farmers. More specifically, we consider symbolic and material effects as well as processes of translation and resulting practices. In so doing, we address a knowledge and practice gap into the diverse ways young farmers interact with the policy landscape – paying attention not only to cases of policy use but emphasizing in particular non-use and appropriation, as overlooked but vital components which, rather than being viewed as policy distortions are part of what policy is. Our analysis also adopts a gendered approach to policy reception in recognition that the CAP has gendered effects and that, in turn, policy reception too, is gendered. We take Greece as a case study, which places last amongst the EU27 regarding its ratio of young farmers. We draw on empirical data from, collected via 40 semi-structured qualitative interviews with young farmers (with women representing 57%), and conducted February - May of 2025 across 9 out of 13 prefectures (focusing mainly on Central Greece and Thessaly). Our findings suggest that young farmers navigate a complex interplay of gendered formal and informal rules and practices, responding to much more than policy incentives of the CAP in their daily decision making. We conclude that accounting for such policy reception from a gendered perspective, offers a possible pathway to enriched gender-sensitive policies for generational renewal, attuned to local contexts, and consequently more likely to produce their desired effects. In terms of wider contributions, methodologically, this paper expands policy reception theory by integrating a gendered analytic lens, in turn providing more gender-disaggregated insights into the different ways young farmers receive the CAP. Additionally, we argue that, in the context of the upcoming CAP reform and the resulting National Strategic Plans, generational renewal presents one of the few promising entry points to advance the lagging gender equality objectives of the policy.