Contribution for renewal of apple trees for farms - Year 2025 - Application

This type of aid is specific and in support of the fruit-growing sector to renovate old apple orchards, encourage varietal change and combat diseases caused by harmful organisms. They have been adopted at this important time of economic recovery in order to adapt production to market requirements and the vocation and typicality of the areas.

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 laid down in the Guidelines, i.e. 40%.

Aid will be granted in the form of capital grants.

Below is guidance oneligibility:

- eligible expenditure per application

- minimum amount euro 3,000.00 excluding VAT

To be respected both in the granting phase and in the final settlement phase;

The maximum eligible expenditure per application is Euro 90,000.00.

The maximum eligible cost per 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 1 of the criteria resolution.

The aid intensity is 40 per cent of eligible expenditure and is granted as a lump sum.

Only one aid application may be submitted.

Only projects whose work or activities commenced after the application was submitted to the competent national authority are eligible.

Costs for the renewal of apple orchards consisting solely of the purchase of nursery material are eligible.

Only renewals of apple trees over 10 years old are eligible.

The technical characteristics relating to the realisation of renewals, as set out in the integrated production specifications, must be respected in the realisation of the planting.

For the calculation of the planting area, please refer to the contents of Criteria Resolution no. 1791/2024

Only one aid application may be submitted.

It is mandatory to quote the Unique Project Code (CUP) on all invoices and payments. The code is assigned by the competent Structure when the initiative is approved for the granting of aid.

Expenditure paid by the beneficiary by bank or postal transfer or by Ri.Ba to the current account in the name of the beneficiary is eligible.

Before the final payment, the competent Structure for Agriculture will sample at least 7% of the farms benefiting from the contribution, checking that the installations have been carried out in compliance with the technical standards provided for by the integrated production specifications or according to the criteria of good cultivation techniques.

The granting of the contribution entails the obligation for the beneficiary to respect the use of the orchard planting for at least 10 years. The term starts on the date of the application for the grant.

In the event of the alienation of the asset before the expiry of the terms, the beneficiaries are obliged, except for force majeure causes, to repay the granted contribution in proportion to the residual duration of the current period.

The grantee shall allow the staff in charge of monitoring the application of the applicable rules and regulations free access to the facilities and documentation pertaining to the granted content.

Checks on the compliance of applicants with their obligations are foreseen on a sample equal to 5% of of the interventions subject to constraints.

Checks on declarations in lieu of certification and affidavits will be carried out on a sample of at least 5% of the files.

The following are eligible for aid under this measure, as provided for by Provincial Law 4/2003:

1. individual agricultural enterprises, as identified by current State and Provincial legislation;
2. companies set up to run agricultural businesses as identified under point (a).

Entities not yet established as a company may also be eligible, provided that they are young people who have submitted an application for a Young Farmers' Settlement to the administration.

The above-mentioned beneficiaries must not be members of agricultural cooperatives, of cooperatives for the collection, processing and marketing of agricultural products and their consortia, of agrarian associations however denominated, or of associations of agricultural producers recognised under the relevant legislation in force. They must also be registered in the special section of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture.

Eligible to apply for this notice are farms that have an operational headquarters in the Province of Trento.

Applicants must have a farm file in the Province of Trento on the date of application. The file must contain the parcels that are the subject of the initiative under this measure.

Ownership of the plots of land in question must be in the form of ownership or other real or negotiated right (lease, rental, comodato, concession). If ownership is not available, it is necessary to declare that the owner has authorised the work to be carried out.

The application may be submitted by the aid beneficiary or by the person (consultant) delegated to enter the application in SRTrento.

The application must be submitted exclusively electronically (online) by accessing the portal https://srt.infotn.it.

A digital signature is required to enter the application;

Access to the restricted area of SRTrento is allowed only to registered users, therefore whoever enters the application (the applicant or the appointed consultant) must be accredited to the portal, as specified on this page

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

The application must be signed digitally by subject entitled to signing of document, failing which it shall be inadmissible.

The aid application must contain a declaration in lieu of affidavit stating

• the list of plots of land to be renewed and the relevant title of use
• that they have been authorised to carry out the work by the landowner, in the case of plots not owned by the applicant
• that I have neither applied for nor obtained, for the planned work, any other assistance except within the limits of the provisions in force
• that it 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 it is not in difficulty within the meaning of Chapter 2.4 - Definitions - point 33 (63) of the Guidelines.
• that at the time of submitting the application, it has, with reference to the size of the land declared in the farm file during the year preceding the year of submission of the application, grubbed up, where applicable, all plants showing symptoms of harmful organisms (such as Candidatus phytoplasma mali agent of apple blight, Erwinia amylovora agent of bacterial fire blight or apple blight) .

The following documents must be attached to the application

1. report signed by the applicant indicating at least one of the objectives set out in point 4.1 above;

2. detailed cost estimate indicating the amount for each renewal variety and the number of canes

3.list provided by the administration where the applicant must indicate

• identification number of each parcel to be renewed and its cadastral municipality,

• surface 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, eligible expenditure, percentage of contribution, amount of contribution, CUP code and deadlines for the execution of the initiatives.

The examination of the applications is concluded with the adoption of a measure granting the contribution by the Director of the competent Service within 45 days starting from the day after the deadline for submitting applications.

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

In order to access funding for the aid provided for in this call for applications, no points will be awarded on the basis of selection criteria, and therefore in the event that the financial availability is not sufficient to cover the total amount of the grant that can be awarded for all the applications, the grant will be reduced proportionally for the funding of all the applications submitted.

The adoption of the measure granting/denying the contribution will be communicated to the beneficiary by letter via PEC to the farm.

The beneficiary must submit a statement of expenditure incurred by 31 December 2025

For the final payment of the grant, an application for payment must also be submitted through the portal https://srt.infotn.it/digitally signed by the applicant, specifying the amount requested, net of Iva and ineligible expenses.