Medio Rural announces 500,000 euros in aid for agricultural holdings affected by fires

The Regional Ministry of Rural Environment and Agricultural Policy of the Principality of Asturias approves the regulatory bases and announces, in the same act, the aid to alleviate damages caused by the forest fires of August 2025 in agricultural holdings. The decision is formalized in the Order of October 21, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias (BOPA) No. 209, of October 28, 2026, with the official reference Code 2026-08840. The call is endowed with 500,000 euros and opens a period of 20 calendar days to submit applications.

A permanent line with immediate call

The regulation is structured into two annexes: the first establishes the permanent regulatory bases and the second contains the specific call for the 2025 disasters. The Ministry justifies this architecture based on the need for the processing to be “agile,” so that in each call it is only necessary to specify the perimeters of the fires, the eligible damages, and their amounts.

The expenditure is charged to the budget application 19.04.531B.773.066 “Support for those affected by forest fires,” with code PEP 2024/000163, funded by the General Budgets of the Principality of Asturias for 2026. The credit may be expanded if demand exceeds the initial allocation, and the aid falls under the agricultural de minimis regime of Regulation (EU) 1408/2013, with a cap of 50,000 euros per single enterprise over three years.

Eight councils and 6,137 affected hectares

The call is limited to the fires included in the report for the declaration of an area severely affected by a civil protection emergency, in accordance with Article 23 of Law 17/2015, of July 9. The delimited areas are:

• Degaña: 516.06 hectares.
• Cangas del Narcea: 2,150.77 hectares.
• Somiedo: 1,216.84 hectares.
• Caso and Ponga: 419.84 hectares.
• Cabrales and Onís: 1,323.71 hectares.
• Ibias: 510.46 hectares.

Natural or legal persons who are holders of agricultural holdings registered in the corresponding administrative registry and who have suffered damage to their means of production may apply. The instruction corresponds to the Forest Management Service and the resolution to the regional minister, Marcelino Marcos Líndez.

Scale per enclosure, beehive, and silage bale

The amount is calculated using objective modules and a maximum limit of 30,000 euros per beneficiary. The approved scale is as follows:

• Burned silo bags: 35 euros per unit.
• Beehives directly affected by fire: 150 euros per hive, plus 166.42 euros for loss of apicultural production and the corresponding closure.
• Production loss in beehives within a 2 km radius: 83.21 euros up to 500 m from the perimeter; 56.58 euros between 501 and 1,000 m; 33.28 euros between 1,001 and 1,500 m, and 11.65 euros between 1,501 and 2,000 m.
• Wire fences with wooden stakes: 8.42 euros per linear meter.
• Metal mesh fences with wooden posts: 9.15 euros per linear meter.
• Galvanized steel metal fencing: 20.00 euros per linear meter.

For boundary fences, 50% will be paid to each applicant. Applications are submitted via the electronic office (https://sede.asturias.es), with a ten-day period for corrections, and the procedure is resolved within a maximum of six months, with a negative administrative silence if there is no resolution. The aid is paid in a single installment, without subsequent justification, as the accreditation of damages is carried out during the investigation using orthophotos, satellite images, reports from Administration personnel, and consultation of fire reports.

Impact on the rural environment

Mountain farms in these eight councils face the replacement of infrastructure that supports livestock and apicultural activity, from livestock management fences to beehives and water inlets. The immediate call, combined with stable regulatory bases, allows those affected to apply for the subsidy without waiting for new regulatory processing, although the total amount of aid and compensation may in no case exceed the value of the damage actually suffered.

Source: Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias, no. 209 of October 28, 2026, section I (Other Provisions), page 1 (official reference: Code 2026-08840).