How to introduce machinery and facilities by utilizing the Comprehensive Support Grant for Creating Strong Agriculture and Bearers of Agriculture

Have you given up on installing expensive agricultural machinery and facilities? Farmers may be eligible for government assistance with the cost of installing machinery and facilities if certain conditions are met.

This article explains the subsidy program called “Comprehensive Support Grants for Building Strong Agriculture and Bearers of Agriculture”. The outline, eligible projects, amount of support, etc. are detailed and easy to understand.

If you did not know much about grants, or if you have been avoiding them because they seem somehow difficult, this is a great opportunity to find out more.

(Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries website)

Project implementation area

If any of the following three management entities apply, they are eligible for support. Each management entity has its own set of conditions, so please check with them for each.

• Organizations of farmers, etc.
• Entrant Corporation
• Organizations, etc. recognized by the project implementer

 

Organizations of farmers, etc.

An organization that falls into one of the following four categories. All of them must include at least three farmers, and the farmers must be deemed to have substantial control over the business activities of the organization (e.g., a majority of voting rights). (e.g., a majority of voting rights).

1. agricultural cooperative
2. Agricultural land-owning qualified corporations excluding agricultural cooperatives
3. Specified agricultural corporations and specified agricultural organizations
4. Corporations or voluntary organizations (including community farming organizations) engaged in commissioned and shared farm work, production, processing, distribution, and sales of agricultural and livestock products. etc.

Entrant Corporation

Entrant corporations that meet the following two requirements are also eligible for the grant

• The program must have a goal and a program to achieve that goal, which is to integrate the use of agricultural land by establishing rights of use or consigning agricultural work from three or more farmers, or to process raw materials by receiving supplies from three or more farmers.
• In the case of a corporation, the amount of capital or the total amount of contribution is 300 million yen or less, or the number of regular employees is 300 or less (excluding subsidiaries). (2) The company must be a corporation (excluding subsidiaries) with capital of 300 million yen or less or 300 or less employees.

Organizations, etc. recognized by the project implementer

The following organizations, which do not fit into the above categories, are eligible for subsidies if the project implementer (municipality) recognizes that it is appropriate to introduce machinery on behalf of a motivated management body.

• agricultural cooperative
• land improvement district
• agricultural commission
• Third sector, etc.

Here are some examples of actual use of the Comprehensive Support Grant for Creating Strong Agriculture and Bearers of Agriculture. Please refer to them for your reference.

A mushroom producer in Mogami County, Yamagata Prefecture, introduced a tent warehouse and built a “mycorrhizal tent” to be used as a mycorrhizal bed production and seed cultivation facility, utilizing a “Comprehensive Support Grant for Building Strong Agriculture and Leaders”.

In this example, the “Support Type for Key Industrial Facilities” of the Comprehensive Support Grants for Creating Strong Agriculture and Leaders of Agriculture was used. Since the project’s support is limited to facilities with a useful life of five years or more, conventional plastic greenhouses are not eligible, resulting in the introduction of “tents,” which are treated as buildings. This tent warehouse is constructed with a special membrane material that allows for adequate solar radiation reduction while ensuring brightness inside, as can be seen from the photos below.