Commission clears France's 300 million euro farm advisory aid scheme

The European Commission has raised no objections to a French State aid scheme worth EUR 300 million that funds advisory services in agriculture, forestry and rural areas for the period 2026-2032. The authorisation decision, adopted on 21 April 2026 under aid number SA.120916, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 17 September 2026 as document C/2026/4854. The notice appears in the C series under the heading of authorisations for State aid pursuant to Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in the list of cases where the Commission raises no objections.

The scheme is formally titled “Aides aux services de conseil dans le secteur agricole pour la période 2026-2032” and is classified as a scheme rather than an individual award. Its stated objective covers agriculture, forestry and rural areas, specifically aid for advisory services in the agricultural sector. The measure is not limited to a single beneficiary: it is designed as a national framework under which French farmers and advisory bodies can obtain support.

Budget, intensity and duration

The financial envelope and the timing of the scheme are set out in the Commission’s summary notice:

• Overall budget: EUR 300 000 000
• Annual budget: EUR 42 857 000
• Aid intensity: 100,0 %
• Duration: until 31 December 2032
• Form of aid: other
• Type of measure: scheme

The 100 % intensity means the advisory services covered by the scheme may be financed in full, without a co-financing requirement imposed on the beneficiary. The annual figure of roughly EUR 42,9 million spread over the seven-year window matches the overall envelope.

Sectors and beneficiaries

The scheme targets a broad set of agricultural and agri-food activities, listed in the notice as:

• Growing of non-perennial crops
• Growing of perennial crops
• Plant propagation
• Animal production
• Mixed farming
• Manufacture of food products
• Manufacture of beverages

The geographic scope is the whole of France, with the region recorded simply as France. The measure therefore reaches crop growers, livestock producers, plant propagators and food and beverage manufacturers alike, provided they use the advisory services the scheme is intended to fund.

Legal basis and granting authority

The French legal basis cited by the Commission is a composite of national and sectoral rules:

• Articles L.510-1 to L.515-5, L.621-1, L.696-1, D.341-6-6, R.653-66 and D.696-1 to D.696-3 of the code rural et de la pêche maritime
• Articles L.1511-1 and following, and L.3232-1-2, of the code général des collectivités territoriales
• Articles L.213-8-1 and following, and Article R.213-32, of the code de l’environnement
• The Arrêté of 8 March 2023 approving amendments to the constitutive convention of the Agence française pour le développement et la promotion de l’agriculture biologique, a groupement d’intérêt public
• Loi n° 2025-268 of 24 March 2025 d’orientation pour la souveraineté alimentaire et le renouvellement des générations en agriculture
• The draft national document on the implementation of advisory services aid granted under scheme SA.120916

The granting authority is the Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Agro-alimentaire et de la Souveraineté alimentaire, at 3 rue Barbet de Jouy, 75007 Paris. The Commission notes that the authentic text of the decision, with confidential information removed, is available through its competition case search portal.

Why it matters

The clearance gives French farmers and the advisory organisations serving them a seven-year funding horizon running to the end of 2032, removing the legal uncertainty that would otherwise hang over advice contracts signed from 2026 onwards. Because the scheme covers forestry and rural areas as well as farming, and because it is financed at full intensity, it is likely to shape how advisory capacity is organised across the French agricultural sector for the rest of the decade.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, C/2026/4854, 17 September 2026, section I (official reference: C/2026/4854).