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Veneto Region

Over 38 million for young people setting up farms

New injection of funds to finance settlements. Councillor Caner: 'Applications received from new entrepreneurs number 368'

by Valentina Saini

7 July 2025

3' min read

Key points

Generational change
Results
Aid Ranking

3' min read

An injection of 38.6 million euro to the 35.5 already allocated for the six calls for tenders launched at the end of last year by the Veneto Region's Rural Development Plan 2023-2027 to finance the first farm set-up of 368 young entrepreneurs.

This was announced by the regional councillor for agriculture, Federico Caner. The resources initially allocated 'proved insufficient to satisfy the very high number of applications received by the regional offices. In view of the significance of the projects applying for funding, we have decided to supplement the initial aid to satisfy all eligible applications," commented Caner.

Linked to the 368 applications from young farmers (i.e. people between 18 and 41 years of age who are setting up in farming for the first time) are 507 applications for modernisation or diversification of the enterprise they are setting up in. In addition, 90 applications will be financed for the prevention of natural disaster damage to production and 24 for the provision of advice to farmers.

The generation change

That the rural development strategy pays special attention to young people is hardly surprising. As in other sectors, the primary sector suffers from insufficient generational turnover. According to a recent report by Centro studi Divulga, for example, the number of agricultural enterprises led by young people under 35 years of age, at a national level, decreased by 3% in 2024 compared to 2023, even though other sectors, such as trade and manufacturing, suffered a greater contraction, by 6.1 and 6.2% respectively.

Looking at the North-East, the same survey shows that last year the incidence of agricultural enterprises led by under-35s out of the total in the sector in Veneto was 6%, compared to 8% in Trentino-Alto Adige and 7% in Friuli Venezia Giulia. The combination of young people, generational turnover, and rural business start-ups is one of the six strategic priorities identified by Veneto in its Regional Complement for Rural Development (Csr) of the National Strategic Plan of the 2023-2027 CAP, to which 8.5% of the total endowment of 824.6 million euro is allocated. Of these, the bulk comes from the Italian State and the EU (342.3 and 335.6 million respectively) and 146.7 million from the Region.

The results

Encouraging young people to launch an agricultural enterprise or take the reins of a family business was also among the objectives of the predecessor of the current CSR, the 2014-2022 Rural Development Plan. Thanks to which 2,721 companies of entrepreneurs with an average age of 28 years, 26% of whom are women, have been helped, with support averaging close to 59 thousand euro. Particular attention was paid to mountain agriculture, which is crucial for the maintenance and protection of the territory: the Psr supported the establishment of 670 young people in mountain farms with a total of 27 million euro. Positive interventions according to Marco De Zotti, Coldiretti Giovani regional delegate, which help new entrepreneurs to "realise the idea they have, often a very clear one, for their farm. These forms of support serve to bring forward a younger agriculture, but also to prepare young people and companies for the challenges of the future and the demands of the market in the coming years'. Thirty years old himself and at the head of his family business in the Treviso area, De Zotti emphasises that when facilitated by these instruments, entrepreneurs always invest themselves. "And if you invest without the right project and without clear objectives, you can also do yourself a disservice. Fortunately, young people today are very well prepared'.

The aid ranking

If the bulk of the resources, even in the case of the 2014-2022 Psr, came from Rome and Brussels, the Veneto system shows efficiency in their allocation. A few weeks ago, in view of the closure of all the technical fulfilments of the Psr, Caner drew up a balance. "To date, the progress of expenditure has exceeded 93% of a total endowment of more than EUR 1.56 billion, with 83,622 applications financed," Caner said. "After the autonomous province of Bolzano, Veneto is first in Italy for aid distributed to its agricultural enterprises.

Noteworthy are the results obtained thanks to the water-saving tenders, which with a 41.5 million allocation supported 1264 operations on 41,870 hectares of land. Interventions that have led to an estimated 85 million cubic metres of water saved per year and an average 49% reduction in the irrigation volumes used on the land involved. Furthermore, 80% of the farms supported by the 2014-2022 Psr saw an increase in gross saleable production of between 10% and 30%. 52% of the farms were able to improve product quality and 16% were also able to increase their selling price.