Why is labour such an issue in Eastern Europe?

Ongoing urbanisation coupled with migration and an ageing population is impacting raw milk production in some parts of Eastern Europe, especially in the backyard segment. The trend of young staff not wanting to stay and work on farms is not new, nor is it a challenge particular to Eastern Europe. However, demographics could play an increasingly important role in the raw milk industry in this region, in the context of the global labour crisis in the Covid-19 pandemic. Private farms in the sp