Compensation in beekeeping: damage to bee nuclei Spring-Summer 2024

The Autonomous Province of Trento has decided to extend compensation for damages suffered during the 2024 beekeeping season to nuclei.

This decision to establish this new compensation for 2026 was taken taking into consideration several concrete factors, based on an analysis of the actual situation and expert opinions. The administration has noted that the 2024 beekeeping campaign in Trentino was extremely difficult due to a mild winter, followed by a very rainy spring, which compromised the blooms (such as dandelion and acacia), almost bringing honey production to zero and forcing beekeepers to artificially feed their bees very frequently. This situation has resulted in a sharp drop in income and an increase in management costs.

This specific aid will compensate for the losses incurred by keeping only nuclei of bees, i.e. new families created for internal turnover on the farm or for sale. The nuclei valid for the calculation are those regularly reported in the bee census as at 31 December 2023 (excluding apiaries outside the province registered as permanent).

The envisaged contribution varies from € 25.00 to € 39.50 per nucleus, calculated on the basis of the possible adhesion to insurance policies for the production of honey 2024 and enrolment in Section One of the APIA. The maximum amount payable is set at € 25,000 per beneficiary (counting also any compensation already received for the same disaster), while the minimum amount payable is € 100

Compensation covers apiaries located in the territory of the Province of Trento. Apiaries located outside the province are only eligible if they are registered in the Beekeeping Data Bank(BDA) as 'NOMADI'. Apiaries outside Trentino that are registered as 'NOMADI' are therefore strictly excluded, even if the owner beekeeper has his registered office in the province.

It is also compulsory to have fulfilled the bee census for the period between 1 November 2025 and 31 December 2025, reporting the presence of at least one hive. Failure to comply with the timing of this census renders the application ineligible.

Each beneficiary may submit only one application.

The digital signature on the application must belong exclusively to the legal representative of the company or to a person who has been expressly delegated.

The maximum amount of aid that can be granted is EUR 25,000 per beneficiary. Any funds already received under the previous resolution (Resolution No. 638 of 9 May 2025) must also be counted in this calculation. Theminimum amount that can be disbursed for each application is €100.

This compensation cannot be cumulated with other public aid that has been granted for the exact same purposes or losses.

The subsidy falls under the'de minimis' agricultural state aid scheme. This means that a single enterprise cannot receive more than €50,000 in total under this scheme over a three-year period.

The Province has allocated a total budget of 100,000 €. Should this budget not be sufficient to cover the total amount of all applications deemed eligible, the contribution allocated to each beneficiary will be reduced proportionally.

The beneficiary is obliged to allow the staff of the Agricultural Service free access to its facilities and documentation, in order to allow the checks required by the regulations.

The measure is intended for individual farms and companies engaged in beekeeping. The activity must be registered as 'ordinary', which is why exclusively family farms are excluded. Apiaries must be located within the province of Trento; those outside the province are also allowed, but only if they have been officially registered as 'nomadic'.

The application must be submitted online by accessing the provincial agricultural information system SRTrento at https://srt.infotn.itwhich can also be reached via the portal https://a4g.provincia.tn.it/from 27 May 2026 until 13:00 on 30 June 2026

in accordance with the procedures set out in the Manual of Procedures for Controls and Penalties of thePaying Agency APPAG.

Access to the reserved area of SR Trento is allowed only to registered users; therefore, each user must first be accredited according to the methods indicated in the manual on the home page of the SRTrento website.

Applications submitted must be digitally signed.

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

In order to be eligible for the contribution, applicants must meet the following requirements at the time of submitting their application:

• Have the registered office of the beekeeping company in the province of Trento.
• Have a VAT number and an active certified email address(PEC).
• Have a duly opened and updated Farm File at APPAG, which must be validated at least once during the year in which the application is submitted.
• Be regularly registered in the Beekeeping Database (BDA) for ordinary activity.
• Have completed the bee census in the period between 1 November and 31 December 2023.
• To have declared the presence of nuclei and a total of at least 40 units (summing hives and nuclei) in the aforementioned census.
• Have a valid digital signature available for signing documents.

The opening date for sending applications is 27 May 2026.

The closing of the call for applications will take place at 13:00 on 30 June 2026;

applications submitted after this deadline will not be considered admissible.