Beneficiaries

The fund may be applied by:

• individual farmers; 
• producer organisations;
• agricultural land management cooperatives; 
• networks of enterprises; 
• other forms associated with legal personality.

The farmer or organisation applying for funding must: 

• have a Standard Production before investment of at least 15,000 euros; 
• present a business plan; 
• be an active farmer;
• be in compliance with social security, welfare and insurance payments and obligations; 
• demonstrate the financial sustainability of the investments; 
• not be a firm in difficulty; 
• not having committed serious crimes against the State or the European Community.

Objectives 

Innovating and optimizing your company's manufacturing operations to: 

• improve product quality; 
• reduce production costs; 
• improve environmental sustainability.

The investments must: 

• encourage the varietal conversion and crop diversification of regional agricultural products; 
• expand the supply and increasing the added value of agricultural enterprises through the horizontal integration of activities and production; 
• encourage the use of renewable energy sources such as biomass, without however resorting to dedicated crops; 
• optimise water consumption by improving company networks.

Selection principles

Submeasure 4.1 A is assessed on the basis of a subdivision into macro-criteria, a minimum permissible score of 30 points and a maximum permissible score of up to 100 points, as defined for:

• Territorial scopes, with the location of interventions in rural areas according to the production sector concerned, according to the priorities specified in the paragraph of the call "Description of the focus of support", with a maximum score of 20 points.
   
• Type of operation activated, with a maximum score of 33 points, divided into: 
  • increase, compared to the situation prior to the investment, in the economic performance of the enterprise, determined by the investment made (maximum 15 points);
  • investments relating to irrigation with water savings above the minimum threshold (max 15 points);
  • type of aid requested (max 3 points).
     
• Beneficiaries with a maximum attributable score of 47 and sub-application specified as follows:
  • production sector concerned by the measures, in accordance with the priorities specified in the section of the notice entitled 'Description of the focus of support' (maximum 22 points);
  • economic size of the company, measured in terms of Standard Production, with a selective bonus for the companies most likely to increase competitiveness. This bonus will be applied by a PS before intervention of 25,000 euro and with a decreasing modality up to a PS of 150,000 euro (max 8 points);
  • adherence to the quality schemes of Measure 3 (for the assignment of these points to a farmers' association, the requirement must be possessed by all the companies participating in the collective project) (max. 4 points);
  • type of applicant, with a bonus to the IAPs (for the allocation of these points to a farmers' association, the requirement must be possessed by all the companies participating in the collective project) (max. 13 points).

In the event of a tie between several beneficiaries, priority will be given to farms that are members of the Quality Agricultural Work Network set up by the INPS. In the event of further equal points, priority will be given to DdS which require a lower total investment cost.

Eligible expenditure 

The financing covers the costs incurred for: 

• construction and modernisation of rural buildings for agricultural and livestock production purposes; 
• purchasing or leasing-purchasing of new machinery and equipment;
• biomass storage facilities of the company; 
• investments to improve the energy efficiency of productive rural agricultural buildings; 
• planting of tree crops; 
• innovative systems, machines and equipment for irrigation efficiency; 
• construction of distribution networks and collection reservoirs; 
• rainwater collection tanks with a volume of less than 250,000 cubic meters; 
• purchasing of agricultural land; 
• storage facilities for agricultural products; 
• innovative plant, machinery and equipment for investments in short supply chains; 
• general expenses.

Scope of support 

The share of the total investment covered by the loan varies according to the type of applicant, the purpose and the area in which its activity is located: 

For individual farmers:

• 40% if located in areas with natural or other specific constraints; 
• 30% if located in other areas; 
• 50% if the investment is in a short supply chain.

For individual farmers who transfer to trade associations: 

• 60% if located in areas with natural or other specific constraints; 
• 50% if located in other areas. 

For farmers associations (inter-company collective project): 

• 60% if located in areas with natural or other specific constraints; 
• 50% if located in other areas. 

The total amount of the investment must be included: 

• For individual projects, between 30,000 and 100,000 euros; 
• For collective projects, between 3 and 4 million euros.