Those who want to invest in the sales and processing of local and regional produce can request government support. Helmut Brunner, Mister of Agriculture, states that there is 1.27 million Euro available for suitable projects.
The funding program “VuVregio“, an initiative of Brunner, started three years ago. And for investments like refrigerators, cold storage rooms, processing equipment or marketing measures like advertisement campaigns or open days there is a subsidy possible for 20% of the costs, up to a maximum of 50,000 Euro. Furthermore, when investing in the organic range a subsidy of 30% is available, to a maximum or 75,000 Euro. This should take in to account the growing demand for local organic food. Especially smaller projects for the processing and marketing of regional products often need start-up funding in order to survive on the market, according to the Minister.
Application forms and additional information can be found at: www.stmelf.bayern.de/foerderwegweiser. The applications can be made at the Bayerischen Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft (Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture) until August 31.