Spanish businessman José Elías has called for urgent investment to modernize agricultural working conditions in Spain, warning that young people naturally reject farm work when offered practices unchanged from 50 years ago.
The entrepreneur stated that the agricultural sector must reduce physical strain on workers if it hopes to attract a new generation of labor, as official figures show a steep decline in youth participation alongside an aging farming population.
Writing on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Elías described the reality of agricultural labor, picturing a young worker kneeling in the mud to harvest crops. He stated that while he personally enjoys visiting farms and remaining in contact with the land, he fully understands why a 20-year-old worker would turn down a job that requires enduring cold weather or spending entire shifts bending their back.
Elías is a prominent Spanish businessman and investor with commercial interests spanning renewable energy, retail, and agricultural production. Spain ranks among the leading agricultural producers in the European Union, supplying fruit, vegetables, and olive oil across the continent, but the industry faces ongoing challenges in retaining domestic labor and modernizing farm infrastructure.
Physical strain in harvest work
Elías argued that young people can enter the agricultural sector either as farm owners running their own holdings or as salaried workers. However, he attributed much of the current disinterest among youth directly to a systemic lack of capital investment in farm operations.
He asserted that agriculture needs to make the same technological leap that other industries have accomplished by adapting physical job roles to modern standards. Rather than demanding that young workers accept intense physical labor as a mandatory test of vocation, he proposed modifying the fundamental way farm work is carried out.
To illustrate his proposal, Elías cited his own strawberry farming operations as a practical model for modernization. On his farms, strawberry plants are raised on elevated structures to waist height, and the facilities are equipped with climate control systems.
He explained that these modifications ensure that workers do not get wet from wet soil or suffer back injuries during harvesting shifts. By controlling indoor temperatures and elevating crops, farm operators can eliminate the most punishing physical aspects of traditional harvesting.
Workplace hazards in Spanish agriculture
The physical concerns highlighted by Elías align directly with official guidance on occupational risk prevention published by Spain's National Institute for Safety and Health at Work. The government agency serves as the national technical authority on workplace safety, ergonomics, and health hazards across Spanish industries.
In its analysis of the agricultural sector, the health and safety institute identified repetitive movements, heavy lifting, and forced body postures as primary physical risks. The agency paid particular attention to postures adopted during tasks performed at ground level, which place severe mechanical stress on the spine and joints.
Furthermore, the institute warned of the health risks associated with outdoor agricultural labor, specifically prolonged exposure to extreme cold, intense summer heat, and high humidity during seasonal farm operations.
Youth employment decline and temporary contracts
The operational challenges described by Elías take place against a broader demographic shift documented by Spain's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the central government ministry responsible for agricultural policy and rural development across the country.
A diagnostic study conducted by the ministry revealed that between 2009 and 2021, the number of young people employed in the Spanish agricultural sector fell by nearly 11 percent. During that same period, overall employment in agriculture expanded by 2.9 percent, highlighting a growing generational imbalance within the workforce.
Job quality also presents a major hurdle for young workers entering the field. According to the ministry's findings, nearly 80 percent of agricultural workers under the age of 25 were employed on temporary contracts, offering limited job security or career progression.
Aging farm owners and structural barriers
For young people seeking to run their own farms rather than work as salaried staff, structural financial barriers create substantial obstacles. The Ministry of Agriculture identified access to land and access to financing as the two main impediments preventing younger individuals from establishing themselves as farm managers or landholders.
Data recalled by the ministry in September 2026 underscored the severity of the generational crisis facing Spanish agriculture. Fewer than 9 percent of farm owners and holding managers in Spain are under 41 years of age.
By contrast, more than 40 percent of farm holders across the country are over 65 years old. With a vast portion of farm owners approaching or past retirement age and young workers turning away from heavy manual labor, industry figures and government data indicate that agricultural modernization remains essential to securing the sector's future workforce.
