The 2017 RENOVE Plan is worth more than € 4.5M in aid for the renovation of agricultural machinery

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment has made a balance of the RENOVE 2017 Plan for agricultural machinery, based on the compilation of data referring to the subsidies granted under the aforementioned Plan, worth 5 million euros. Data which shows the willingness of farmers to replace obsolete agricultural machinery with another one that incorporates the latest technologies, more respectful with the environment, more efficient and safer.

Thus, during the month and a half in which the call has been open, aid has been granted to 607 farmers worth € 4,664,031.17, 93% of the total. The total investment of farmers who have received the subsidy in purchase of tractors and machinery has been € 23,147,358.88, therefore, the subsidy has accounted for 20% of the total expenditure. As of January 18th, 351 farmers have been paid for a total of € 2,874,630.21.

The incentives have been directed to the acquisition of machinery more adapted to the environmental demands

Distribution of grants by Autonomous Communities

By type of machine, the dragged machines stand out among which are the application equipment of phytosanitary products and fertilizer spreaders, followed by the tractors:

The 2017 RENOVE Plan for the renovation of the machinery national park started with a broader objective than the PIMA Land Plan of 2015. Faced with aids that were focused exclusively on tractors, the RENOVE Plan 2017 extended its scope of action also to automotive and other dragged and suspended machines, such as direct seeders, pesticide application equipment, fertilizer spreaders and slurry application tanks with locator devices to deposit the product in bands or buried.

It also sought to facilitate compliance with international commitments of Spain in the field of environment within the agricultural sector, by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and ammonia, or the promotion of techniques such as conservation agriculture , that allow to increase the carbon sequestration capacity of agricultural land.

More sustainable machinery

The new tractors, achieve a reduction of 15-20% of carbon dioxide and up to 94% of particles with respect to one of more than 15 years old

In addition, security has been strengthened since the amount of the subsidy is increased if the tractor being replaced did not have any approved protection structure at the time of entry into force of the obligation to have protection structures.

Regarding the rest of the machines, the slurry tanks with locator to incorporate the product in bands or buried reduce significantly the emissions of ammonia to the environment, compared to other systems such as fans or cannons.

The application teams of new phytosanitary products are obliged to have passed the corresponding inspection, which guarantees an optimum distribution of the product. The models of fertilizer spreaders susceptible to be subsidized must have been calibrated to maximize the homogenous distribution of the fertilizers and, finally, the seeders direct are the most important tool to carry out a conservation agriculture or no tillage that reduces the labors in the field, CO2 emissions, increases the organic matter content of the soil and prevents its erosion.

The RENOVE 2017 Plan covers a wide spectrum of machines whose modernization has a very positive impact on the environment of agricultural activity

Source: MAPAMA