Agriculture will receive less funding from the European Union this year. Of course, this also applies to the funds available to Italy and thus South Tyrol. However, our farmers here in South Tyrol have little or nothing to fear. On the contrary. They are even beneficiaries of the new financial rules.
The beneficiaries are mountain farmers in particular
According to the EU parliamentarian Herbert Dorfmann, the European Union is cutting each member state 10 percent of the total money that goes to large farms and giving it to small farms.
“In a country like South Tyrol, where there are a lot of very small farms, especially mountain farming, this leads to a significant improvement. Our small farms get the 10 percent of the big ones.”
Herbert Dorfmann, EU parliamentarian
If the alpine dairy industry receives a little more money in the future, it is thanks to the new rules of the game, for which South Tyrolean politicians have also campaigned. Local bodies and states would now have more freedom of choice again. Dorfmann emphasizes that they could adapt their policies to local conditions again.
Speculation with alpine pastures?
However, the alarm bells are ringing. Because mountain pastures have increasingly become objects of speculation in recent years. Farmers from other regions leased South Tyrolean alpine pastures to collect money. So does the funding indirectly benefit the speculators? “No,” says Dorfmann. Speculative transactions with alpine pastures would not be favored, because the basic premium had been reduced significantly in recent years and alpine pastures had become significantly less attractive for speculators.
No pseudo-agriculture possible
So what are the prerequisites so that not pseudo mountain farmers also benefit from the funding, but those who need it? The new regulation puts a stop to pseudo-agriculture. A few alibi animals were not enough to qualify for public financial aid. Especially smaller farms with dairy cows, which bring the animals to the alpine pastures, will gain according to Dorfmann. On the other hand, alpine farms that have large areas but hardly any livestock will not win.
ka ge
–
