Fertilizers, Masaf activates 45.6 million Euros for farmers…

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests has implemented the 45.6 million euros allocated by the European Union to Italy for farmers affected by the increase in fertilizer prices. The decree of September 15, 2026, signed by Minister Lollobrigida and registered by the Court of Auditors on October 8, 2026, is published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, General Series no. 242 of October 17, 2026, with reference 26A05418, and enters into force the day following its publication.

The European framework and available resources

The measure implements the Commission’s implementing regulation (EU) 2026/1894 of July 27, 2026, which in Annex I allocates 45,599,200 euros of European funds to Italy for exceptional temporary support within the framework of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), pursuant to art. 69, letter j), of regulation (EU) 2021/2115. It complements regulation (EU) 2026/1768 of July 14, 2026, and the Temporary Framework for State aid referred to in Commission communication C/2026/2593, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on May 5, 2026.

Art. 2 of the regulation allows Member States to add national support up to 200% of the allocated amount. The decree utilizes this fully, with co-financing provided by the Revolving Fund referred to in art. 5 of law no. 183 of April 16, 1987, up to 91,198,400 euros. The total resources mobilized therefore amount to 136,797,600 euros, as stated in the premises, against higher costs for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers estimated by ISMEA at 396,673,574 euros.

Who can apply and how much is granted

Beneficiaries are farmers who submitted an application for aid for area-based interventions by July 25, 2026, and who suffered profitability losses on crops for which the impact of the cost variation per hectare for fertilization exceeds 1.5% of the crop value. The areas must be listed in the farm file and be available to the beneficiary as of May 15, 2026, with a valid management title.

AGEA Coordination determines the support within maximum amounts per hectare, differentiated by crop:

Cereals, excluding grain maize and waxy silage maize: 35.25 euro/ha
Grain maize: 64.30 euro/ha
Waxy silage maize: 41.55 euro/ha
Other non-leguminous forage arable crops: 32.80 euro/ha
Sugar beet: 35.30 euro/ha
Sunflower: 36.00 euro/ha
Rapeseed and turnip rape: 29.60 euro/ha
Olive: 25.55 euro/ha
Hazelnut: 30.25 euro/ha

The rate covers up to 50% of the additional costs and rises up to 80% for farmers subject to the commitment or obligation to reduce the use of fertilizers pursuant to Articles 31, 70, or 72 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115.

Fertilizer Market Figures

The technical document attached to the decree, prepared by ISMEA dated July 2026, measures the effect of the crisis. In the period from March to May 2026, the price index for means of production grew by 5.7% on a trend basis, driven by fertilizers (+10.1%) and energy products (+15.0%). The most marked increase concerns nitrogen fertilizers, which depend on the cost of natural gas:

Granular urea: +38% compared to the same quarter of 2025
Granular ammonium nitrate 27%: +11.3%
Water-soluble ammonium nitrate 34%: +6.7%
Ammonium sulfate 21%: +10%
Phosphate fertilizers: +13% on average, with single superphosphate at +21%
Potassium chloride: +16%

The premises link this dynamic to the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Italy’s strong dependence on imports: Egypt and Algeria for urea and the main nitrogen-based products, Egypt and Spain for phosphates, and Israel, Canada, and Germany for potassiums.

Payments, Controls, and Updates on Applications

AGEA processes the proceedings and settles the EU share by February 28, 2027; the national co-financing is disbursed by the same paying agency by May 31, 2027. A Monitoring Committee is established, composed of representatives from Masaf, AGEA, ISMEA, and the Agricultural Policies Commission of the Conference of Regions, whose members receive no compensation.

The decree also intervenes on two related fronts. Art. 7, implementing Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1905, allows for the modification or withdrawal of applications for the 2026 application year by November 15, 2026. Art. 8 rewrites Art. 4 of the ministerial decree of August 4, 2023, regarding advances: direct payments up to 70% starting from October 16 and rural development up to 85%. Farmers with an incidence lower than 1.5% may also access aid activated by individual regions within the framework of rural development complements, up to 50% of the increased costs.

A Partial Recovery

The mobilized resources cover slightly more than a third of the increased costs estimated by ISMEA, and the decree itself acknowledges that the 136.8 million available “are insufficient” compared to the 396.7 million calculated. For Italian cereal and olive farms, the measure nonetheless represents the first certain relief after months of price increases, with defined deadlines for the modification of applications and the receipt of payments.

Official source: Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, General series no. 242 of October 17, 2026 — Decree of the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests September 15, 2026, “Implementation of financial support for farmers affected by specific problems resulting from the crisis in the Middle East” (26A05418).