Country Road, Take Me Home?

The decline in rural population and need for rural communities to become more attractive places to live and work is a concern for people and policymakers alike. During the podcast we will take a closer look at what are the main difficulties young people face when living or moving to rural areas, discuss ways to address these issues and re-engage youth in rural society, discuss if going digital and remote working could be the new road leading us to rural areas and hear what are the new policy suggestions and innovative solutions the Baltics and Nordics are working on.

The discussion is led by Olavi Petron, the head of Rural Affairs Policy and Analysis Department in Estonian Ministry of Rural Affairs. His guests are Nordregio’s research fellow Alberto Giacometti who is specialized in regional development, governance and planning processes; Nordregio’s research director Karen Refsgaard who is specialised in institutional economics with expertise in rural development and policy, environmental and resource management mainly related to agriculture, bioeconomy and innovation; and Tanel Tang – young Estonian entrepreneur who is trying to survive in the countryside and produce organic eggs from happy chickens.