Rural Funds (PSP and CSR)

The allocation of EAFRD and EAGF funds is defined at the national level in a CAP Strategic Plan (SPP) and is further detailed at the regional level in Rural Development Complements (RDCs ).

The most relevant information can be accessed through the National Rural Network website.

On this page we provide the overview and national level.

Links, documents and allocation details for each Region are given in the following paragraphs:

Abruzzo – Basilicata – Calabria – Campania – Emilia-Romagna – Friuli-Venezia Giulia – Lazio – Liguria – Lombardy – Marche – Molise – PA Bolzano – PA Trento – Piedmont – Puglia – Sardinia – Sicily – Tuscany – Umbria – Valle D’Aosta – Veneto

Introduction

As mentioned in the first sections of the Guide, agricultural and rural development funds account for about one third of the community budget and include the FEAGA (European Agricultural Guarantee Fund), which supports and regulates farmers’ income and the price of products of agricultural origin, and the EAFRD (European Agricultural Rural Development Fund), which supports interventions for rural development. The new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) programming, the European framework for this sector, has been in full swing since 2023 after a transitional phase (2021-2022). We provide in this section reference information regarding the CAP Strategic Plan (SPP ) developed at the national level for the management of EAGF and EAFRD funds. Instead, the next chapters will present summary information regarding the Rural Development Complements (RDCs) related to EAFRD management in individual regions.

European-level reference documents

The basic documents for the management of EAGF and EAFRD funds at the community level are:

• Regulation establishing rules on the financing, management and control of the CAP, and in particular: (a) On the financing of CAP-related expenses; (b) On national management and control systems; (c) On clearance and compliance procedures;
• Regulation on CAP national strategic plans (which also defines common objectives, indicators, types of interventions, conditions and requirements of EAGF and EAFRD and the modalities of coordination, governance, monitoring, reporting and evaluation);
• Regulation on the common organization of markets in agricultural products and quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs;
• Regulation concerning the transitional arrangements (2021-2022) in the management of EAGF and EAFRD funds.

National reference documents

The reference documents for Italy can be found on the National Rural Network portal and consist mainly of:

• CAP Strategic Plan (National PSP, which includes various annexes and related documents all available on a reference page);
• PSP summary documents and financial allocation for EAGF and EAFRD in Italy;
• Programming documents in individual regions (CSRs, Regional Rural Development Complements);
• Information on the financial uses of EAGF and EAFRD and fact sheets on the types of interventions planned.

Structure and allocations of the EAGF (European Agricultural Guarantee Fund).

Notes: Figures expressed in millions of euros (total financial resources available). EAGF funds are not distributed by region. Source: National Rural Network.

EAGF (European Agricultural Guarantee Fund) intervention items.

1. Direct payments: payments paid directly to farmers based on various criteria:
   • Basic income support for sustainability: payment that supports all active farmers based on the hectares at their disposal and the payment entitlements they hold. It aims to close the gap between average farm income to that of the rest of the economy;
   • Supplementary redistributive income support for sustainability: supplementary payment that supports active farmers whose farm size is between 0.5 and 50 eligible hectares;
   • Supplementary income support for young farmers: supplementary payment paid per hectare (up to a maximum of 90 hectares) to farmers who have been established by the age of 40 as head of the farm, for no more than 5 years.
   • Climate, environment and animal welfare schemes (eco-schemes): introduced from the 2023-2027 programming, incentivize farmers to make more ambitious environmental, climate and animal welfare commitments. Five ecoschemes are planned:
     • ECO1: for the improvement of animal welfare by reducing the use of antibiotics and introducing grazing or semi-wild farming systems;
     • ECO2: for grassing, permanent tree crop management, soil management, and limiting the use of herbicides and pesticides;
     • ECO3: The preservation of olive trees of special scenic and historical value;
     • ECO4: The rotation in forage crops and the non-use of plant protection products and chemical herbicides;
     • ECO5: for the protection of pollinators, with disposable crops of melliferous interest and the non-use of herbicides and pesticides.
2. Sectoral interventions: packages of measures specific to certain sectors, aimed at regulating their prices, promoting production, distribution, availability and quality of products:

• • Fruit and vegetables: investments in tangible and intangible fixed assets, advice and technical assistance, training, organic or integrated production, transport and storage of produce, promotion, communication and marketing, implementation of quality schemes, traceability and certification systems, climate change mitigation and adaptation, support to mutual funds, investments in collective storage, replanting of orchards or olive groves, market withdrawal, green harvesting, non-harvesting, harvest and production insurance, guidance services, sanitary and phytosanitary requirements of third countries, consumer awareness and information;
  • Beekeeping: advice, technical assistance, training, information and exchange, investment in tangible and intangible assets, collaboration with research organizations, promotion, communication and marketing;
  • Wine sector: restructuring and conversion of vineyards, investment in tangible and intangible assets, green harvesting, distillation of wine-making by-products, promotion in third countries;
  • Oil and olive growing: investments in tangible and intangible fixed assets, consulting and technical assistance, training, organic or integrated production, promotion, communication and marketing, implementation of quality schemes, traceability and certification systems, investments in collective storage, guidance services, consumer awareness and information;
  • Patato sector: investments in tangible and intangible assets, advice and technical assistance, training, organic or integrated production, transport and storage of products, promotion, communication and marketing, quality schemes, traceability and certification systems, climate change mitigation and adaptation, support to mutual funds, investments in collective storage, market withdrawal, harvest and production insurance, guidance services, communication.

Structure and allocations of the EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development).

Notes: Figures expressed in millions of euros (total financial resources available). Source: National Rural Network.

Allocation of EAFRD at the regional level.

EAFRD funds are further distributed by region (see details in the following chapters). The items shown in the table are explained in the following section.

EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) intervention items.

• Payments for environmental and climate commitments (SRA): payments for farmers or other beneficiaries who voluntarily enter into management commitments that are more stringent than the mandatory ones, other than those from the commitments for which “eco-schemes” are granted, and are considered useful for achieving one or more of the specific environmental and climate objectives;
• Payments for natural or other region-specific constraints (SRB): allowances for farmers operating in mountain areas or other areas subject to natural or specific constraints, paid annually per hectare of agricultural land. They are intended to compensate, in whole or in part, for additional costs and lost income due to the constraints to which agricultural production in the area concerned is subject;
• Specific regional handicap payments due to certain mandatory requirements (SRC): Farmer allowances aimed at compensating for additional costs and income foregone due to the implementation of the European Natura 2000 and Water Framework Directives, which place specific constraints in certain areas;
• Investments (SRD): Support for investments, tangible and/or intangible, in agriculture and forestry, with different purposes (environmental, performance and business diversification);
• Settlement of young farmers and start-up of rural enterprises (SRE): support to facilitate the establishment of new farmers and in particular young farmers, the start-up of new rural enterprises related to agriculture or forestry, the diversification of farm household income into non-farm activities, and the start-up in rural areas of non-farm business activities related to participatory local development strategies;
• Risk management tools (SRFs): Support given to active farmers to cope with production and income losses resulting from extreme weather events beyond their control;
• Cooperation (SRG): Support for agricultural and rural collaboration initiatives (producer organizations, Leader and LAG approach, pilot, innovation and promotion actions);
• Knowledge and information exchange – AKIS (SRH): Support to fund actions to promote innovation, training, consulting, knowledge exchange and information dissemination;
• Transitional spending (TR): Support on specific and transitional aspects related to the specific situation of certain regions;
• Technical assistance (TA): Support for actions to improve the management and implementation of CAP strategic plan interventions (including creation and management of the National CAP Network);
• National Rural Network (NRN): Management and operation of the National Rural Network.