Agriculture opens 4.3 million in grants for irrigators in core zones

The Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food has opened the call for grants for irrigation communities located in areas affected by denuclearization, endowed with 4,290,132.94 euros. The measure is approved by means of Resolution ARP/3624/2026, of October 6, published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC) no. 9772, of October 14, 2026, with the official reference CVE-DOGC-A-26282046-2026. Applications may be submitted within ten business days starting from the day after publication.

The call derives from the regulatory bases approved by Order ARP/162/2026, of September 2, published in DOGC no. 9746, of September 7, 2026. The objective is to compensate irrigation communities for the economic effort entailed by the adaptation to the denuclearization process and to support their activities within the framework of the socioeconomic development of the territory.

The grants are framed within the just energy transition and seek to promote the competitiveness of the agri-food sector as a measure to reduce the socioeconomic impact of the closure of nuclear power plants. The call has the code BDNS 934506 and does not require notification to the European Commission.

Zones and beneficiaries

The irrigable areas of the applicant communities must be located in municipalities of Catalonia within a circle with a radius not exceeding thirty kilometers, concentric with the nuclear power plants, and included in planning zones I and II of the External Nuclear Emergency Plan for the Ascó and Vandellòs nuclear power plants (PENTA).

• The instructing body is the Sub-directorate General of Rural Infrastructure.
• The processing bodies are the corresponding territorial management services.
• The body that issues the granting resolution is the Directorate General of Irrigation and Agricultural Spaces.

Amounts and eligible actions

The amount of the grant is 95% of the financial contribution or the execution cost of the works funded by the irrigation communities in improvement, modernization, or new irrigation actions, in accordance with a project approved by the Administration. The subsidy cannot exceed, individually or in conjunction with other grants, the cost of the subsidized activity.

The actions must have been executed and paid from January 1, 2024, and before the grant application. The granting is exceptionally carried out under a non-competitive concurrence regime, without comparing applications, and grants are awarded in order of entry until the budget is exhausted.

The amount is allocated to the budget application AG04 D/470000600/5620/0072 AINSTA-NU of the 2026 DARPA budgets and may be increased according to article 92.4.b of Legislative Decree 3/2002, of December 24.

Documentation and resolution

Applicants must attach an execution report of the actions, including the file number, the title of the action, and the amounts; if applicable, a list of other income or subsidies; proof of legal representation; a copy of the registered deeds or statutes, and a document certifying the water authorization or concession. Applications cannot be reformulated.

The resolution of granting or denial must be issued and published on the Electronic Notice Board of the Generalitat before December 21, 2026. If no express resolution is issued within this period, the application shall be understood as rejected by administrative silence. An appeal for reversal may be filed against the resolution before the Minister within a period of one month.

The resolution, signed by Minister Òscar Ordeig i Molist, takes effect the day after publication and exhausts the administrative route, whereby an optional appeal for reconsideration may also be filed within a period of one month, or a contentious-administrative appeal before the High Court of Justice of Catalonia within a period of two months.

These grants are a key element for the agricultural sector of Ascó, Vandellòs, and the surrounding municipalities, which face the closure of the nuclear power plants with the challenge of maintaining agricultural activity and modernizing irrigation networks. The ten-business-day deadline is very tight, so interested irrigation communities will have to prepare the documentation quickly to avoid being left out of the call.

Source: Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya, no. 9772, October 14, 2026, Other provisions, pp. 1-5 (official reference: CVE-DOGC-A-26282046-2026).