As some of you have already learned by reading other threads, there is a lot of bureaucracy involved in farming. Unfortunately I can not deny this, but there are reasons for all these seemingly exaggerated rules.
As a farmer you can get a lot of fiscal benefits and grants, which means that people are motivated to fake it. There was just a scandal in Sicily and Lombardy where the mafia received a lot of money presenting themselves as farmers, and stealing land from real farmers to get EU money. So, it’s important to have a system in place where the real farmers aren’t punished because of these bad apples.
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As we didn’t came here with bags of money one of the first things we did was inform ourselves what the possibilities were for starting farmers. We were lucky ! There was just a new round of grants for starting farmers younger than 40, which I was at the time.
So, full of optimism we started the procedures. As we underestimated the physical efforts associated with our farm activity, we certainly had a very naïve view on the application process. I will not bore you with details, but even after having obtained a positive result I said to myself “never again!”
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There is so much uncertainty involved in the process, you have to submit triple proof of everything, nobody seems to be a 100% sure about the way things have to be done, and even when you’re on the “good list” there’s a chance you’re too low on it and the money is finished. So, never count on receiving the grant you apply for!
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