You may have applied for subsidies to develop your farming activities in the past but have not been successful. You may be considering to prepare your very first grant application. Not only for you, we have prepared basic tips and tricks that are guaranteed to help you compete and secure financing for your investment project. Did you know, for example, that women are more likely to receive agricultural subsidies? What can one get financial support for, among other things? 

• Investments in agricultural enterprises 

• Investments in the processing of agricultural products 

• Investments in the restoration of calamity areas 

• Innovation in the processing of agricultural products 

• Technological investment in forestry 

• Investment in forestry infrastructure 

• Investments in non-agricultural activities 
• Water management measures in forests 

Preference criteria and evaluation differences between men and women 

Some of you may be surprised, but the provider of agricultural subsidy will evaluate project applications separately in two baskets, which will be divided according to the officially recognized gender in the Czech Republic, i.e. women and men. Traditionally, there is more competition in the basket of project applications submitted by men. 

All applications are scored in the same way based on meeting the so-called preference criteria. The minimum number of points for further evaluation of the project application is 15, the maximum is 86. In previous rounds, farmers needed to achieve at least 44 points to receive a subsidy among men and only 26 points among women.  

Do not forget that the fulfilment of the selected preference criteria must be maintained from the date of application, during the implementation of the project, and for a further 5 years after the end of the project. Otherwise, the agricultural subsidy will be withdrawn, which you certainly do not want.

Certain preference criteria can contribute significantly to increasing your application score. You can influence these criteria yourself when preparing your application, if: 

• You increase the amount of your own funds to implement your business plan. The minimum threshold for gaining points is CZK 300 thousand and the maximum number of points can be achieved with own funds reaching the minimum amount of CZK 900 thousand. 

• You become a partner to at least one food bank. 

• You reserve at least 10 % of the expenditure purchased with the grant for machinery with a soil conservation function, machinery or technology that contributes to the reduction of NH3 emissions into the air or precision farming equipment. 

• You produce a product with a protected geographical indication or designation of origin or as a guaranteed traditional specialty, or your product will receive the award Regionální potravina (Regional Food), Nejlepší biopotravina roku (Best Organic Food of the Year) or will have the KLASA quality label, or the product will be registered in the Česká cechovní norma (Czech Guild Standard) voluntary system of certification of agricultural products. 

• During the implementation of the project, you significantly expand your agricultural holding compared to the initial situation by at least 40 % of the total area of cultivated agricultural land and/or the number of large livestock units. 

• You take over at least 50% of the agricultural land in the LPIS (Land Parcel Identification System) and/or at least 50% of the large livestock units (but also at least 3 large livestock units) from another farmer over 55 years of age within 24 months from the date of the grant. 

• You register as a person active in organic farming. 
• During the implementation of the project, you will process your own agricultural production in a specialised operation, the output of which is not a product listed in Annex I of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, the so-called annex. 

Subsidies for young farmers: Who can apply and what for? 

After the harvest, namely in October this year, the subsidy call for young beginning farmers will be re-launched. Not sure exactly how a young beginning farmer is defined and what activities are supported under this grant? Here is a brief overview. 

The purpose of this EU agricultural subsidy is to attract and retain young farmers and help them to start their own business and implement their business plan anywhere in the Czech Republic except the capital city. Last year, the amount of the subsidy ranged from CZK 1.5 million to CZK 2.03 million. 

Who is a young beginning farmer? 

• The primary applicant is an individual or a legal entity who has reached the age of 18 on the date of submission of the application for the subsidy and is not over 40 (or has not reached the age of 41) on the same date, and who has attained the minimum agricultural qualification or will complete it within 2 years of the subsidy being granted.  

• Further defining conditions for individuals have not been specified at the moment.  
• For legal entities, they must have been established by an individual who is acting as a statutory body for the first time and who holds 100 % of the share capital, or who had acted as a statutory body of another legal entity in agricultural production in the last 2 years as of the date of application. It is always the case that this individual may be a statutory body and hold 100% of the share capital in only one legal entity in agricultural production. 

What can be financed by the subsidy? 

That is not entirely clear yet. However, it is very likely that the list of possible costs will be similar to last year, when it was: 

• Construction and reconstruction of agricultural buildings 
• Acquisition of technology for livestock and crop production, and for (tree) nursery production, including investment in orchards and hop fields 
• Purchase of agricultural real estate (including subsidy for purchase of agricultural land and subsidy per 1 ha of agricultural land) 
• Subsidies for agricultural machinery used for primary agricultural production 
• Purchase of livestock 
• Purchase of feed, fertilisers and plant protection products for direct consumption in the holding 
• Purchase of seedlings and seeds for direct consumption in the holding 
• Adjustment and processing of own agricultural production 
• Construction and reconstruction of systems against hailstones in vine plantations (new and replanted)