Payment for young farmers
To make farm succession and the entry of the agricultural business more attractive, young farmers are granted an additional top-up payment.
In this way Austria is sending a clear signal to young people and offers them a tangible incentive to be active in agriculture.
All in all a maximum of two percent of the national ceiling for direct payments can be used for this purpose. The additional top-up payment for young farmers accounts for 25 percent of the average national payment rate per hectare.
The top-up is granted for a maximum of five years and 40 payment entitlements.
Young farmers are persons who are setting up an agricultural holding as head of the holding for the first time, or who have set up such a holding during the five years preceding the first submission of an application. The term “setting up for the first time” means that the holding is managed on such a farmer's name and for such a farmer's own account, irrespective of whether the young farmer owns or merely rents the areas.
Moreover, they must not be more than 40 years of age in the year of the first submission of the application and must provide evidence of a suitable agricultural training (at least agricultural skilled workers’ examination).
The first opportunity to apply for the payment was in 2015. The application is submitted annually within the framework of the multiple area application; the required evidence of qualification has to be attached or filed within two years after the holding was set up.
For more details and the list of the admissible qualification evidences, please see the AMA explanatory leaflet on direct payments - allocation of payment entitlements, payment for young farmers, force majeure and exceptional circumstances, do you find here.