Business start-up aid for young farmers

The aid consists of a lump-sum capital premium of EUR 40,000.00 and is paid in two instalments.

The first instalment, equal to the amount of Euro 30,000.00, will be paid following the granting of the aid; the second instalment, equal to the balance of Euro 10,000.00, will be paid following the correct implementation of the business plan and the fulfilment of the eligibility requirements requested and specified below.

Applications may be submitted from 1 September to 30 November 2022.

• The aid cannot be combined with other aid for setting up young entrepreneurs, in particular with that granted by ISMEA or under Article 24 quater of Provincial Law No 6/1999 and Article 17 of Provincial Law No 4/2003.
• For at least 10 years from the date of submission of the application for payment of the second instalment of the aid, each beneficiary must maintain registration in Section 1 of the Provincial Register of Agricultural Enterprises and the number of hours worked. In the case of companies, the beneficiary must also maintain control of the company for the same period.
• From the beginning of the implementation of the operation and up to 2 years from the date of the final liquidation the beneficiary shall inform the public about the support obtained on the website for professional use, where this exists. The duration of the constraints and the other application aspects are defined in point 3.1. "Web" of the document "Communication obligations - Guidelines" prepared by the Managing Authority and published on the website dedicated to the RDP 2014-2020 at this link.

Applications may be submitted by young farmers who

• are between 18 and 40 years old on the date of submission of their application and the date of setting up;
• are setting up forthe first time on an agricultural holding as the head of the holding, or as joint manager in the case of a company, the date of setting up being the date of the application to open an agricultural VAT number with the Inland Revenue Service, or the date of incorporation or the date on which the deed of company amendment is drawn up in the case of the young person setting up in a pre-existing agricultural holding
• possess adequate professional qualifications and skills:
  • possession of a university-level qualification in the field of agriculture, forestry or veterinary medicine;
  • a technical high school diploma or vocational training qualification of an agricultural nature;
  • other equivalent qualification, provided that equivalence is attested by a recognised professional agricultural institute;
  • professional qualification of agricultural entrepreneur (B.P.I.A.) obtained at a recognised professional agricultural institute, with a planned course lasting no less than 600 hours.

If the professional qualification is not possessed on the date the support is granted, it must necessarily be obtained within 36 months of that date.

The following requirements must also be met:

1. Establishment must have already begun at the date of submission of the application but must not be fully completed; establishment may begin no more than 6 months - raised to 18 months for applications submitted in the year 2021 only - before the application for support is submitted. This period will be increased to 24 months subject to a favourable decision by the European Commission.
2. Establishment must take place in a company with its registered office, business file and business centre in the Province of Trento; if there is no file it is it is necessary to set it up at a CAA
3. The farm must have a minimum economic size of 10,000.00 euro and a maximum of 150,000.00 euro. In the case of companies, the minimum value is to be considered for each partner with the requirements of young settler or professional farmer, while the maximum value is doubled in the presence of two or more partners with the requirements described above.
4. The farm to be set up must be registered in the first section of theProvincial Archive of Agricultural Enterprisesand must achieve a volume of work corresponding to at least one man work unit (ULU), equal to 2080 hours of agricultural work per year per head beneficiary in the management; in the presence of companies, 2,080 hours are required for each young person set up and 1040 hours for each other partner engaged in agriculture as their main occupation, demonstrable in the company file. In the event that the requirements set out in this letter are not met on the date the application is submitted, they must necessarily be met within 36 months of the date the support is granted;
5. be active farmers within the meaning of Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013. If this requirement is not met on the date the application is submitted, it must necessarily be met within 18 months of the date of setting up.

The application may be submitted by the young farmer, (an appointed consultant may be used to enter the application into SRTrento only).

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

To submit an application, you must

• have a digital signature;
• whoever enters the application (the young farmer or the appointed adviser) must be accredited to the portal as specified on this web page

1. In the case of joint establishment of several young people within a company, each young person may be granted the aid.
2. The aid may not be granted if the holding has been established through the division, carried out in the 36 months preceding the aid application, of a pre-existing holding run by the spouse, relatives up to the second degree of kinship of the applicant or cohabiting relatives, or by companies administered by them. The division must also not take place until the date of payment of the second instalment of the aid, failing which the aid will be withdrawn and the first instalment paid will be recovered.
3. The aid is not granted if the setting up concerns the taking over of a holding previously run by a farmer under 50 years of age who has previously benefited from the setting up premium under the 2000-2006 RDP, the 2007-2013 RDP and Article 17 of Provincial Law No 4 of 28 March 2003.
4. The aid may not be granted to young people setting up in undertakings which have been the recipients of recoveries of contributions granted under the 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 RDPs and then withdrawn, without their having been repaid.

Declaration in lieu of affidavit certifying

• the particulars of the spouse, relatives and relatives-in-law of the applicant up to the second degree, specifying their tax code and degree of relationship, and of cohabiting family members;

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The documentation also contains

a) the indication of the qualifications for the awarding of scores with reference to the selection criteria, with the relevant details for ex officio acquisition

b) the declaration in lieu of affidavit certifying

• that he has not benefited from other aid for the young farmer's setting up, in accordance with point 4 of paragraph 4

(c) the business plan, with the contents of point 3(1)(d).

which provides sufficient elements for the assessment of the achievement of the objectives and describes

• the starting situation of the farm
• the milestones and objectives for the development of the farm's activities; from a business point of view, the farm's organisation, organisational strategy and legal form should be described;
• details of the actions, including those relating to environmental sustainability and resource efficiency, required for the development of the farm's activities such as investment, training, advice or any other activity.

The business plan must adequately highlight the initiatives or activities related to at least one of the objectives set out in Article 58a of Regulation (EU) 1305/2013:

(a) short supply chains and local markets;

(b) resource efficiency, including precision and smart farming, innovation, digitisation and modernisation of machinery and production equipment;

(c) safe working conditions;

(d) renewable energy, circular economy and bio-economy;

(e) access to high quality information and communication technologies in rural areas.

Implementation of the plan must begin within 9 months of the granting of support, and may be subject to review while ensuring that the minimum milestones necessary to achieve the objectives for the development of the activities are maintained. Within 30 months of the granting of support for the implementation of the plan, a variant application may be submitted. No more than two variants are permitted.

After the deadline for submitting applications has expired, a merit ranking of the applications is approved by a determination of the manager, on the basis of scores awarded according to the "selection criteria" provided.

When the aid is granted, the competent structure assigns the unique project code (CUP) and communicates it to the beneficiary.

Following receipt of the notification of the aid grant, the beneficiary shall submit an application for payment of the first aid instalment. In cases where the applicant has not already met the eligibility requirements, he must submit a bank or insurance guarantee for the amount of the first instalment of the aid to be granted.

The provincial structure responsible for agriculture, for the purposes of the in itinere check, will ascertain the start of the business plan within 9 months of the date on which the aid is granted. If the business plan has not been started within that period, the aid will be withdrawn and the first instalment paid will be recovered.

Once all the requirements have been met, the application for payment of the second instalment of the aid granted must be submitted within a maximum period of 36 months from the date the aid was granted, attaching the final report on implementation of the business plan.