100 MILIONI DI EURO PER L’AGRICOLTURA

About the fund

From 15 November 2024, applications can be submitted for the ISMEA Innovation Fund 2024 to support productivity. The fund has an additional endowment of 25 million euros compared to the 75 million announced last year, for a total of 100 million euros. Of the total allocation, 30 million will be reserved for businesses located in the municipalities of the Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Marche regions affected by the flood events of May 2023.

Eligible investments

The Innovation Fund finances investments aimed at fostering the development of innovation projects to increase productivity in the agriculture, fishing and aquaculture sectors through the spread of the best available technologies for the digital management of the business, the use of machinery, robotic solutions, sensors and 4.0 platforms and infrastructures, water saving and the reduction of the use of chemical substances, as well as the use of by-products.

Eligible recipients

• Agricultural SMEs
• Fisheries SMEs
• Agromechanical SMEs

All recipients must have been active for at least 2 years.

Eligible expenses

• Purchase of machinery, tools and equipment for agriculture
• Non-road mobile machinery for agriculture and livestock farming
• Machinery for livestock farming
• Agricultural tractors
• Investments for fishing and aquaculture

Investment amounts and grant contribution

The total amount of eligible costs per single application must be between 70,000 euros (10,000 euros for fisheries SMEs) and 500,000 euros. The aid is granted as a non-repayable contribution calculated as a percentage of total eligible costs.

For agricultural SMEs investing in activities falling within other sectors or for agromechanical SMEs, the non-repayable contribution is recognised under the general de minimis regulation and is calculated by applying a percentage to 200,000 euros, based on the total amount of eligible costs.

Guarantee

For agricultural and fisheries SMEs only, a free ISMEA first-demand guarantee is available on bank loans to cover part of the investment share not financed by the non-repayable contribution. In no case may the coverage provided by the non-repayable contribution and the bank loan covered by the ISMEA guarantee exceed 95% of eligible costs.

Application process

Applications must be submitted through the dedicated online portal.

First phase – accreditation, compilation and pre-validation of access applications: from 12:00 on 15 November 2024 until 12:00 on 13 December 2024. Except for the first day of opening (12:00–18:00) and the last day of closing (9:00–12:00), the portal is open on weekdays from 9:00 to 18:00.

Second phase – formal submission of the access application: from 12:00 on 18 December 2024.