Subsidies

Compensation for ecological and animal-friendly services rewards farmers for services that are not remunerated by the market and are demanded by society. New habitats are to be created for plants and animals in agricultural areas. The networking of habitats should be achieved in the long term.

Places available on the Alps in Liechtenstein and the Liechtenstein Alps abroad in Vorarlberg

Liechtenstein alpine farms: contact details and vacancies

The state promotes the management of alpine pastures located in Liechtenstein or Liechtenstein's own alpine pastures abroad.

The subsidies for the management of alpine pastures are paid in the form of an alpine pasture cost contribution. This consists of

• a basic contribution according to the fixed livestock numbers and
• a supplement for care and maintenance costs

Fixed rates per livestock unit apply to the basic contribution. The supplement is calculated according to the actual expenses incurred for weed control, pasture clearing, maintenance of buildings and facilities, manure management and rotational grazing.

The management subsidies are paid to the owner of the alpine pasture.

Basic paper on the situation of the Liechtenstein Alps in Voralberg

On October 29, 2018, the Ministry of the Interior, Education and the Environment published a paper on the topic of
"Promotion of the Liechtenstein Alps in Vorarlberg", a working group consisting of one representative of each
one representative of the owners of the Liechtenstein Alps in Vorarlberg and one representative of the
of the Office for the Environment. The task of the working group was to lay the foundations for a political
Political decision regarding the future organization of agricultural policy subsidies
agricultural policy subsidies. Although the FL Alps in Vorarlberg are very heterogeneous in many respects
heterogeneous in many aspects, these Alps are summarized in this report .

Once the general requirements set out in the Agricultural Terminology and Recognition Ordinance (LBAV) have been met, the farm is recognized and is thus entitled to receive state benefits in accordance with the Agriculture Act.

As part of the recognition procedure, farms are checked for the following points:

• The farmer is a Liechtenstein national, a national of another state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or of a country in which a reciprocal right exists;
• The farmer has completed training as a farmer with a federal certificate of competence or equivalent professional training;
• The farmer has not reached the normal AHV retirement age;
• The farmer is actually working and managing the farm;
• It is a land-cultivating agricultural enterprise with an operating center in Liechtenstein;
• The farm is privately managed and agricultural goods are produced at the farmer's own risk and expense;
• The principles of good agricultural practice (GLP) and the guidelines of the ecological performance certificate (ÖLN) are complied with;
• Farm accounts are kept;
• There is a minimum annual work requirement in agriculture.

Irrigation systems and drainage systems in the agricultural zone must be approved by the Office for the Environment, Agriculture Department, before they are implemented, regardless of whether they are subsidized by the state (LWG Art. 30a).

The state subsidizes the following buildings, installations and measures for soil improvement:

• Drainage
• Recultivation, with the exception of landfill with dredged sludge and excavation of construction pits
• Irrigation systems, insofar as they are permanently installed
• Pumping stations

Income contributions are an important agricultural policy measure that serve to secure the income of Liechtenstein's recognized land-managing farms.

The following types of contribution exist:

• Farm contribution:
  - Basic contribution
  - Contribution for crop cultivation (received by farms with more than 3 ha of arable land)
  - Contribution for animal husbandry (received by farms with more than 5 LU)
  - Area contribution per ha up to a maximum of 15 ha
• Additional contribution for mountain farms
• Additional contribution for selected arable crops
• Additional contribution for roughage-consuming livestock
• Additional contribution for the grazing of roughage-consuming livestock

Animal husbandry in accordance with the BTS or RAUS program must meet significantly higher animal welfare requirements than animal husbandry in accordance with animal welfare legislation. This requires farmers to make corresponding additional efforts. Participation in these programs is voluntary.

RAUS exercise journal

The state promotes Alpine infrastructures, taking into account the interests of environmental, nature and landscape protection.

The subsidies are granted for

• the construction, renovation or extension of buildings and facilities
• the construction and renovation of paths, drainage systems and water supplies
• Pasture improvements

Subsidies are paid to the owner of the alpine pasture.

Subsidies for infrastructure are paid under the following ordinances:

• for alpine pastures within the BGS perimeter, in accordance with the Ordinance on the Conservation and Development of Mountain Areas
• for Alps outside the BGS perimeter and Liechtenstein Alps in Vorarlberg, in accordance with the Alpine Infrastructure Promotion Ordinance (AIFV)

The aim of promoting infrastructure for farms is to create and maintain family farms with a promising future and to promote ecological, sustainable farming and animal-friendly livestock farming.

Subsidies are granted for the construction, renovation or extension of agricultural buildings or facilities, including farm equipment and access roads. Subsidized buildings and facilities must be designed, planned and constructed in accordance with the provisions of spatial planning, building, animal welfare and environmental protection legislation.

Type and amount of subsidy:

• Participation in the investment costs amounting to 40% of the eligible costs;
• Assumption of interest on third-party funds amounting to 50% of the eligible costs, up to a maximum of CHF 550,000;
• Flat-rate surcharge for BTS stables.

Application for support for agricultural infrastructure

New farm location

In the case of agricultural buildings or facilities at a new farm location, this must be determined by the municipality and approved by the government. In addition to the criteria set out in Art. 25 Para. 3 of the Agriculture Act (LWG), the structural and succession situation of surrounding farms must also be taken into account for new farm locations.

The cultivation of mountainous areas, slopes and marginal land requires more work on the part of farmers. The yield from the forage obtained is usually less than the effort invested by man and machine. The main purpose of cultivating these areas is to preserve a cultural landscape that has been created over the past centuries. The slowly growing cultural landscape, created without the use of major technical aids, has resulted in a mosaic of diverse habitats that need to be preserved.

The state therefore promotes the management of areas that are in the public interest. The farmer receives a contribution if he mows the area at least once a year and the cuttings are removed.

Support to facilitate entry into agriculture

The funding is granted as a one-off start-up aid in the form of an interest-free loan. The loan must be repaid in equal annual installments within ten years.

Eligibility requirements:

• Recognized agricultural business
• 36. Not yet reached the age of 18
• Certificate of competence as a farmer.

Application for facilitating entry into agriculture

Facilitating the exit from agriculture

In the interests of socially responsible development, support payments can be made to make it easier to leave farming if it is necessary to leave farming for social and economic reasons, in particular due to a lack of business succession, or if there is a case of hardship.

Purpose of the promotion

The purpose of promoting the processing and sale of domestic agricultural products is

• the promotion of value chains of domestic agricultural products and the circular economy in agriculture,
• to increase the consumption of domestic agricultural products,
• strengthening the processing industry to promote the development of innovative agricultural products

Areas of support

Funding can be granted for

• the processing of domestic agricultural products in Switzerland,
• Measures for the regional promotion of domestic agricultural products, in particular in the areas of public relations and awareness-raising, sales promotion, basic advertising for Liechtenstein agriculture and market research.

Type and amount of support

Funding for the processing of domestic agricultural products or for measures to promote sales can be granted in the form of a contribution amounting to a maximum of 80% of the eligible costs, up to a maximum of CHF 50,000 incl. VAT per application and applicant.

Eligibility for subsidies

Eligible for processing contributions are producers and processing companies whose registered office and place of business are located in Liechtenstein, which primarily produce semi-finished or finished products from Liechtenstein raw products and can guarantee a minimum quantity of raw products produced in Liechtenstein.

Producers, producer organizations, processing companies and trading companies are eligible for project contributions for measures to promote sales if their registered office and, if available, their permanent establishment are located in Liechtenstein.

Procedure and deadlines

The Commission for the Promotion of Processing and Sales of Domestic Agricultural Products conducts an annual call for applications for processing and project contributions.

Eligible projects are selected on the basis of the evaluation criteria.

Applications for processing and project contributions must be submitted to the Office for the Environment by February 28th of the year of the contribution.

Funded processing projects and measures, including the payment of all expenses, must be completed by 13 October of the year at the latest.