Application for varietal renewals (apple trees) 2025 - cooperatives

This type of aid 'Facilitations for plant production - restructuring of fruit plantations - lp 4/2003 art. 46 - paragraph 3' supports the fruit sector in order to renovate old apple plantations, encourage varietal change and combat diseases caused by harmful organisms.

Aid may be cumulated with other schemes or ad hoc aid provided that the total amount of State aid for an activity or project does not exceed the aid ceilings set in the Guidelines, i.e. 40%.

Costs for the renovation of apple orchards consisting solely of the purchase of nursery material, excluding Golden and Red group varieties, are eligible. Only renovations of apple orchards more than 10 years old, i.e. made in the year of planting or prior to planting, are eligible, as shown by way of example in the table below. Verification of this parameter will be carried out for each individual member, by the office responsible for examining applications.

The minimum amount of eligible expenditure for each member of an association is Euro 3,000.00 excluding VAT. This amount shall be respected both when the grant is awarded and when the final payment is being processed.

The maximum eligible expenditure per individual member of associative body is equal to Euro 90.000,00.

The maximum eligible cost per individual stick is as follows

• Euro 6.50 for traditional varieties
• Euro 7.50 for club varieties;
• Euro 8.50 for scab-resistant varieties only, as listed in Annex 2 to Provincial Council Decision No 1790/2024. Any other scab-resistant varieties will be eligible, without the need to supplement the table in Annex 2, provided that their resistance is documented.

The application for aid may be submitted from 15 November 2024 until 15 February 2025.

The granting of the contribution entails the obligation for the beneficiary member to respect the use of the orchard for at least 10 years pursuant to Article 6 of Provincial Law no. 4/2003. The term runs from the date of the application for final payment of the contribution.

In the event of a change of use or alienation of the property before the expiry of the terms referred to in the preceding paragraphs, the beneficiaries shall be required, except for force majeure reasons, to repay the contribution granted in proportion to the residual duration of the current period.

The residual duration is calculated from the date of ascertainment of the circumstances giving rise to the revocation of the subsidy until the end of the respective period. The corresponding amount is to be repaid plus interest at the statutory rate.

The grantee must in any event allow the staff in charge of monitoring the application of the regulations in force free access to the facilities and documentation pertaining to the subject matter of the grant awarded.

Checks on the compliance with the obligations imposed on applicants under Article 6 of Provincial Law no. 4/2003 shall be carried out on a sample of 5% of the interventions subject to constraints, in accordance with the relevant provincial regulations in force. The control on the substitutive declarations of certification and affidavit will be carried out on a sample of at least 5% of the files, according to the provisions of the provincial regulations in force on the matter.

Eligible for aid are agricultural and agricultural product harvesting, processing and marketing cooperatives and their consortia listed in the Register of Cooperatives of the Province of Trento, agricultural associations provided they are legally constituted, and associations of agricultural producers recognised under the relevant legislation in force, as provided for in Article 2(1)(d) and (e) of Provincial Law No 4/2003.

Members of the above-mentioned cooperatives and producer associations must be farmers with fruit trees to be renewed, located in the Province of Trento. Member farmers must also be registered in the special section of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture. Non-registered persons may also be eligible, provided that they are young people who have submitted an application for a Young Farmers' Settlement to the Administration.

The application may be submitted by the legal representative or his delegate of a cooperative, agricultural association and association of agricultural producers

The application must be submitted using the computerised procedures on the https://srt.infotn.it/ portal.

Access to the reserved area of SRTrento is allowed only to registered users, therefore each user must first be accredited according to the procedures indicated in the manual on the home page of the SRTrento website. In this regard, it is advisable to carefully consult the manual for first access to the portal, where the various stages of the accreditation procedure are detailed.

The applications submitted must be signed by means of a valid digital signature device, so it is advisable to have one in advance.

For any assistance in accessing and enabling the portal, please contact helpdesk.srtrento@provincia.tn.it.

The application must be digitally signed by the person entitled to sign the document, otherwise it will be inadmissible.

The following documents must be attached to the application

- report from the reference association indicating the final objectives of the action in terms of renewing the stock of varieties and at least one of the objectives set out in point 4.1 of Provincial Council Decision No 1790/2024

- cost estimates drawn up by authorised nurserymen or other holders of licences for the marketing of nursery material; the estimates may be in the name of

• to the owner of the agricultural undertaking carrying out the renewal. In this case the quotation may be detailed (i.e. stating the number of plants and the relative price) or it may only state the unit price of the varieties of astons to be planted;

• to the relevant association body. In this case, the quotation will only state the unit price of the varieties of cane to be planted for the entire organisation;

- a declaration in lieu of affidavit signed by each individual member certifying

• the list of plots of land to be replanted and the relevant title deed
• any authorisation to carry out the work from the landowner;
• that the partner agricultural undertaking has neither applied for nor obtained, for the planned work, any other assistance except within the limits of the provisions in force;
• that the partner agricultural undertaking is not the subject of an outstanding recovery order following a previous Commission decision declaring the aid unlawful and incompatible with the internal market
• that the partner agricultural undertaking is not in difficulty within the meaning of Chapter 2.4 - Definitions - Section 33 (63) of the Guidelines;
• that the member agricultural enterprise has authorised the association body to submit through it the application for a contribution in accordance with Article 46 (3) of Provincial Law 4/2003

• that, at the time the application is submitted, it has, with reference to the amount of land declared in the farm file during the year preceding the year in which the application is submitted, grubbed up, where provided for, all the plants showing symptoms caused by harmful organisms (such as Candidatus phytoplasma mali agent of apple blight, Erwinia amylovora agent of fire blight or apple dieback).

- list of member farms that will carry out renewal initiatives. For this purpose, the list provided by the administration (in both paper and spreadsheet format) must be completed, stamped and signed by the legal representative of the association body. This list must contain the following information

• first and last name
• tax code,
• residence,
• member number in the register of members,
• identification number of each parcel to be renewed and its cadastral municipality,
• area to be renewed
• variety and age of the plants grubbed up,
• varieties to be renewed and their rootstock,
• number of plants and planting distances,
• estimated cost of plant material;

The preliminary examination of the applications is assigned to the competent Service for agriculture, which is responsible for drawing up the technical-administrative preliminary report. Subsequently, the report is approved by a determination of the Director in which, among other things, the following are specified: beneficiary, admitted expenditure, percentage of contribution, amount of the contribution and deadlines for the execution of the initiatives.

In the case of applications that do not meet the requirements, a rejection measure will be adopted.

The statement of expenditure incurred must be submitted by the Associative Body by 31 December of the year in which the grant award decision is approved.

Failure to meet the deadline referred to in paragraph 1 above shall result in the forfeiture of the grant in accordance with the provisions of Resolution No. 1980/2007 as amended and supplemented.

For the grant to be paid out the application must be submitted, completed and signed by the association using the computerised procedures made available to users on the portal https://srt.infotn.it//