Interventions in the beekeeping sector - bee year 2024/2025

These are aids for beekeeping, provided for in the CAP strategic plans and financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF). (EU Reg. No 2021/2115 of 2 December 2021)

Interventions are aimed at:

(a) raise the level of skills and the degree of professionalism of all beekeepers both as regards beekeepers who produce for marketing and those who produce for self-consumption, in order to improve the competitiveness of the sector and to guarantee and preserve the fundamental action in favour of the environment of pollinators;

(b) supporting tangible and intangible investments for the benefit of beekeeping holdings, fostering competitiveness and innovation in the beekeeping sector and other actions including: (i) combating hive aggressors and diseases, in particular varroa; (ii) preventing damage caused by adverse weather conditions and promoting the development and use of climate change adaptation practices; (iii) restocking the bee population; (iv) rationalising transhumance; (v) improving the quality and valorisation of hive production with a view to marketing;

(c) promoting economic and structural knowledge of the sector and the industry, increasing knowledge of the chemical-physical and qualitative characteristics of honey and other beekeeping products, in particular through the identification and evaluation of parameters important for honey characterisation and marketing, promotion and dissemination of quality products by raising consumer awareness.

These aims will be pursued through the following interventions and actions of the Provincial Beekeeping Sub-Programme:
- Action A - Services of technical assistance, advice, training, information and exchange of best practices, including through networking, to beekeepers and beekeeping organisations;
◦ Action A1 - Refresher and training courses
◦ Action A2 - Technical assistance and advice to undertakings
- Action B - Investments in tangible and intangible fixed assets
◦ Action B1 - Pest and disease control - purchase of beehives with varroa netting and oxalic acid sublimators
◦ Action B3 - Repopulation of bee population - purchase of bee families, bee nuclei, bee queens and breeding beekeeping equipment
◦ Action B4 - Rationalisation of transhumance - purchase of machines, equipment and various materials specific to nomadic activity
◦ Action B5 - Equipment and management systems - machinery and equipment for the extraction, preservation and packaging of honey and other hive products
- Action F - Promotion, communication and marketing, including market monitoring actions and activities aimed in particular at increasing consumer awareness of the quality of beekeeping products
◦ Action F1 - Information and promotion activities aimed at increasing consumer awareness of quality - participation in competitions to reward honey quality through melissopalynological, organoleptic and chemical-physical evaluations

Equipment benefiting from financing must:
(a) be kept on the farm for a minimum period of three years
(b) be uniquely identified

With reference to the definitions of Ministerial Decree no. 614768 of 30 November 2022 and subsequent amendments and integrations, the following are eligible for funding

1. beekeepers - actions B1 B3 B4 B5

2. Associated Forms. For the purposes of this call for proposals, "first level Associated Forms" are defined as associations and cooperatives of beekeepers and "second level Associated Forms" as their Unions and Federations - actions A1 A2 B5 F1

Bodies specialised in beekeeping research - action A1

All beneficiaries must be holders of a company file set up with APPAG and must have a PEC (certified electronic mail) address.

Beekeepers must hold a VAT number and must have reported at least one hive in the 2024 census.

Associated forms must have at least 30 beekeeper members.

Bodies specialised in beekeeping research must operate in the province and have proven experience in the beekeeping sector.

For some actions there are further specific requirements for beneficiaries.

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 24 December 2024 and until 31 January 2025 according to the procedures set out in the Manual of Procedures for Controls and Sanctions of the APPAG Paying Agency.

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.

On the SR Trento portal, a specific and independent application procedure is available for each Action under this call for proposals.

The following documents must be attached to the application

• description of the project initiative
• cost estimates
• report justifying expenses any preliminary expenses incurred prior to the submission of the application
• any further documents required by the specific provisions for each Action.