Humintech: Hello Ms. Fenge. First of all, tell us what the actual reduction in workload is for the farmer?

C.-S. Fenge: Yes, with pleasure. Farmers are dependent on agricultural subsidies. According to current calculations, agricultural subsidies account for more than 40% of agricultural income. Furthermore, they are intended to give farmers an incentive to implement sustainable and resource-conserving farming measures. There is a wide range of subsidies; for example, expensive new equipment such as a milking robot can be subsidized. However, funding is also available for training, education, conversion or new construction. Funds for this are provided by EU, federal, state and private sources, but figuring out which one fits and then reaching the appropriate contact person after you come home from the field in the evening is incredibly tedious. Often, auxiliary staff, such as interns or consultants, are used for this purpose, which is associated with high costs. For these reasons, many farmers refrain from claiming the subsidies.

With the funding path, Förderpfad in German, this is different now – German Airfarm users from the fields of agriculture, forestry, viticulture, fishery and beekeeping can test the funding path for free and will directly receive three suitable funding program suggestions. The risk is therefore zero. On the other hand, if you spend under €50 a month, you get an overview of every suitable program, can be continuously informed about new funding opportunities, are reminded before application deadlines, and are guaranteed to get x-fold more out of it – without having to curse at the keyboard in the evening.

Humintech: How do you keep the information up to date?

Airfarm: We now have over 10 people on our team working to constantly update the 100+ eligible measures per state and to keep simplifying the pathways to funding. The extension of guidelines, the change of deadlines or authorizations – through the direct line, the funding path is often more up-to-date than the information on the respective websites of the offices, ministries and chambers. Our network of farmers also feeds us brand-new information. This means that if a beekeeper informs us about a new funding program, all our beekeeper subscribers are informed about it the next day.

Humintech: For which states is the funding path already available?

C. Fenge: We started with Saxony, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Bavaria. Every two weeks, another federal state is added. All federal funding programs are, of course, already available from each federal state. Those whose business goes beyond state borders can rejoice as well: the funding path also maps such situations by allowing up to 5 different profiles to be created. For the bees behind the house, the forest at the end of the property and the vegetable cultivation in between.

Humintech: Thank you for the interview!

Learn more or try it out right now at: www.foerderpfad.de