Applying for agricultural subsidies correctly

The benefits of subsidies

• Subsidies represent state support. This support is intended to ensure that farmers on the one hand do not fall below the subsistence level and on the other hand, this is intended to create incentives to keep agriculture alive obtain.

• The subsidies depend heavily on the type of farm. This includes not only the size of the farm, but also the type of farm: farmers, farm animals can receive different subsidies than, for example, farmers in the Agriculture.

Apply for funding for agriculture

Farmers have to pay the subsidies for each year. Apply for funding again. There is only a certain period of time available for this; the application usually ends in spring. In order to apply for the subsidies, the application form should therefore be obtained in good time. Each farmer receives this from the responsible office for agriculture and forestry. Some agricultural offices now offer the On-line-Delivery to:

• Each agricultural holding has its own holding number. This must be given in the application, in addition to other personal information such as name, address, etc.
• The exact operating area must also be specified in the so-called multiple application. Every change that happened compared to the previous year must be mentioned.


See subsidies for farmers - this is how it works

Perhaps you are a farmer and want to find out which subsidies ...

• The type of use of the plant area must also be specified. The Agriculture Office differentiates between grassland for the animals and arable land.
• If livestock is farmed, it is not enough to just state the number of cattle. This must take into account the age and sex of the animals.

So that the application can be processed as quickly as possible by the Agriculture Office, all Leaflets must be read carefully to fill out the multiple application.

How to Apply for Your Subsidies Correctly

Farmers subsidies are state funds for meeting certain requirements. You can help the farmer to cope with everyday farming. However, the requirements to be met by the various subsidies must be taken very carefully, otherwise there is a risk of penalties for fraud.

• For example, if you want to claim subsidies for a biofield, you have to pay attention to many factors: The legislator writes here not only stipulates that no artificial fertilizers may be used, but also stipulates that your soil does not contain certain substances to be allowed to. For you, however, this means that extreme caution is required. If you have a neighboring farmer who uses artificial fertilizer, some of it can be washed into your field when it rains. In the event of an audit by the state, you would then be removed from all subsidies and even a fine would be imposed on you, even though you adhered to the requirements. So check carefully from all perspectives whether the conditions of a subsidy are feasible at all.
• Subsidies must also be applied for prior to planning a project. For example, if you are going to build a larger manure pit, then you have to get the subsidies apply before you have the plans made, otherwise you will not be eligible for any Subsidies.
• As a farmer, you have a duty to find out about all subsidy requirements. Do this carefully and expect unannounced, random checks.

Understand EU subsidies for farmers transparently

A large part of the EU budget flows into subsidy payments, with EU subsidies for farmers making up a not inconsiderable part. Thanks to the EU's transparency initiative, it is relatively easy to track the recipients for each budget year.

There are various agricultural subsidy funds in the EU, including the European Guarantee Fund for the Agriculture (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

Identify the recipients of the EU subsidies

If you want to identify the recipients of EU subsidies for farmers, you can proceed as follows:

1. Go to the website of the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food.
2. Click the "EU Agrafonds" button in the left menu column.
3. Then click on the button "Recipient EU Agrafonds". Here you will first find a list of the Funds, from which EU subsidies for farmers are paid.
4. Scroll down the page completely, at the bottom you will find the button "Continue to search".
5. In the window that now opens, you can search for the businesses that benefited from the EU subsidies in the financial years 2009 and 2010.
6. If you Do not know the exact payee who you can enter in the search field, it does not matter. Instead, you can also search for the companies that have received a certain amount of funding.

Display subsidy amounts for farmers

1. Enter a certain amount in the appropriate search fields for "EAGF direct payments", "EAGF-other measures" and "EAFRD measures". In addition, you can determine whether the funding amount received from the respective farms should be greater, less or exactly the same as the amount you have specified. For example, enter 1,000,000 in the "EAGF direct payments" field and click on the "greater than" symbol in the selection menu.
2. Then click on "Start Search".
3. You will now see all agricultural businesses in Germany that have received more than EUR 1,000,000 in EU subsidies in the budget year you have selected. In this way, you can see at a glance which company has benefited from EU payments and to what extent.

EU subsidies for farmers are now very easy to understand thanks to the EU's efforts to increase transparency in this area.

Other authors: Tobias Spranger, Anna Schmidt