The Young Farmers subsidy scheme will be opened for the third time today, Monday 4 December. This year the list of possible investments has been expanded. However, opening times differ per province, as does the budget. An overview.
An application can be made from December 4, 2017 to January 15, 2018. The applicant for the subsidy must be a (co-)holder for the first time and must also be under the age of 41 (at the time of application). In addition, the subsidy may not have previously been applied for for this company.
The applicant must be 'established' as head of the holding for the first time. If a business is transferred from a partnership to a sole proprietorship, the sole proprietorship is still considered the applicant's first business.
Amount of subsidy
The subsidy amounts to a maximum of 30% of the investment; with a maximum of €20.000. The minimum subsidy amount is €10.000. A maximum of 3 investments may be made per application. The amount of the subsidy can be calculated on the basis of a reduction per non-young farmer or on the basis of the percentage of equity of the young farmer.
Number of non-young farmers is decisive
When the subsidy is calculated on the basis of the number of non-young farmers, a discount of 20% is applied for each non-young farmer. A discount of 2% is applied to 40 young farmers.
As an example: a partnership with 1 young farmer and 2 older farmers invest in an air scrubber. The subsidy amount is reduced by 2 times 20%. 60% remains. With a value of €100.000, the subsidy amount becomes €100.000 times 30% times 60% is €18.000.
The own capacity
This involves looking at the equity capital of the young farmer. This must be confirmed with an auditor's report, which shows the percentage of equity. The subsidy amount must be multiplied by the percentage of equity of the young farmer. Equity may be combined for several young farmers.
As an example: a father and a son are part of a partnership and invest in an air washer. Shareholders' equity in the company is €110.000. About 40% of this equity belongs to the applicant young farmer. With an investment of 100.000, the subsidy is €100.000 times 30% times 40% (shareholders' equity) is €12.000
Blocking Control
In a partnership, the young farmer must have a blocking control of at least €25.000. This means that the young farmer can stop an investment above this amount. If this is not the case, the applicant does not meet the conditions and is not eligible for the subsidy.
Number of points determines allocation
Every investment gets a number of points. Applications will be ranked according to the number of points, with the application with the highest number of points being given priority. With multiple investments in different categories, the number of points is averaged.
View the breakdown per province here.
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