There is only one answer to that question for most: the farmers, or their families. But it is a very different story in two European countries—and while right now, access to sick leave and holidays is determined by postcode, this could soon start to change.
When young Swedish dairy farmer Elisabeth Hiden was invited to Brussels earlier this year for a policy panel discussion, she very nearly didn’t make it. With her husband in bed with the flu, the full weight of the farm and their two young children fell squarely on her shoulders.
The deep irony? Elisabeth was on her way to a conference to talk about the need to set up services for farmers that would mean they could take sick leave and holidays from the non-stop reality of working with livestock who, come rain or shine, must be fed and tended to each and every day.