Rural Environment grants 300,000 euros in dairy aid with only two applications

The Regional Ministry of Rural Environment and Agricultural Policy has resolved the granting of subsidies for advisory services and participation in certification schemes for dairy livestock farms for a total amount of 300,000.00 euros. The decision is contained in the Resolution of October 27, 2026, signed by the regional minister Marcelino Marcos Líndez and published in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias (BOPA) number 217, dated November 10, 2026, with official reference Cód. 2026-08951. The procedure was resolved with only two applications submitted.

A regulatory framework inherited from 2025

The aid is based on the regulatory bases established by the Ministry’s Resolution of May 30, 2025, published in the BOPA on June 6, 2025, and in the call for applications approved by the Resolution of June 22, 2026, the extract of which appeared in the BOPA on June 30, 2026. The competent body for the instruction is the Animal Health and Production Service.

The European legal basis is Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2472 of December 14, 2022, on aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors. The expenditure is charged to budget application 19.02.712F.473.009, with project code 2004/000059.

Both applicants were already beneficiaries in the 2025 call, resolved by the Resolution of November 4, 2025 (BOPA of November 17, 2025), therefore the eligible period covers activities carried out between November 1, 2025, and October 31, 2026.

Two beneficiaries and 783 farms

The final distribution, after applying the pro-rata allocation provided for in base 6, is as follows:

• AYUD/2026/90085 Central Lechera Asturiana SAT 471 de RESP Limitada (NIF F33012915), with 743 farms: budget submitted of 492,724.09 euros, approved of 329,429.79 euros, and subsidy of 289,439.15 euros.
• AYUD/2026/90090 Campoastur Productos y Servicios S. Coop. Asturiana (NIF F74337593), with 40 farms: budget submitted of 14,710.00 euros, approved of 12,020.00 euros, and subsidy of 10,560.85 euros.

Altogether, the applicants submitted budgets for 507,434.09 euros, which were reduced to 341,449.79 euros once the maximum cost modules were applied. Since the resulting aid exceeded the budget availability, a pro-rata coefficient of 0.8786064856 was applied, with an initial intensity of 100% of the eligible expenses.

The modules approved by the Evaluation Commission, meeting on September 28, 2026, are as follows:

• Line 1, operation of the milking equipment: 88.50 euros per farm.
• Line 2, operation of the cooling tank: 46.00 euros per tank.
• Line 3, monitoring of mastitis-causing germs: 9.62 euros per tank analysis, 5.26 euros for the remaining samples, 19.70 euros for antibiotic sensitivity, and 59.68 euros for water quality analysis.
• Line 4, energy efficiency: 530.98 euros per farm.
• Line 5, automation of robotic milking: 400.00 euros per farm.
• Line 6, external certification: no applications.

The energy line is cut for 149 farms

During the investigation, deficiencies were detected in both requests, and a correction process was opened and published on the electronic headquarters notice board between August 11 and August 25, 2026. Campoastur responded within the deadline on August 20; Central Lechera Asturiana did so on September 1, outside the ten-day deadline, although the documentation was admitted before the withdrawal resolution was issued.

However, the dairy cooperative did not fully correct its application: for 149 farms, the agreement document signed by the owners with the energy analysis model and the commitments assumed was missing. Those farms were not considered valid, and line 4 for energy efficiency went from 296,038.05 euros submitted to 132,743.75 euros approved.

Justification until November 20

The third resolution extends the justification period: beneficiaries will have until November 20, 2026, to submit to the Animal Health and Production Service the available form with code AYUD0161T02 and the documentation for base 12. Expenditure vouchers dated after October 31, 2026, and payment vouchers dated after November 7, 2026, will not be admitted.

Payment will be made by bank transfer after the appropriate checks. The resolution exhausts the administrative route: an appeal for reversal may be filed before the head of the Department within one month, or a contentious-administrative appeal before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Asturias within two months.

The low turnout for this call depicts an Asturian dairy sector that is highly concentrated in its administrative communication: two entities channel the aid for nearly eight hundred farms, meaning that the cut applied to the energy efficiency line of Central Lechera Asturiana affects virtually all the final beneficiaries of the program.

Source: Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias, no. 217 of November 10, 2026, section I. Principality of Asturias — Other Provisions, pp. 1-5 (official reference: Code 2026-08951).