Financing your project in the Hérault: agriculture, agri-biodiversity and rural development

Introduction

In the Hérault, the departmental schemes identified notably concern agri-biodiversity, agricultural sectors and certain rural investments carried out by local authorities or groupings. They do not constitute universal investment aid for every business. Agricultural crisis schemes should be attributed to the State when they fall under the Prefecture.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is intended for businesses, farms, local economy organisations and project leads based in the department. Eligibility depends on the scheme: aid mentioned in a territorial guide may be reserved for municipalities, EPCIs, pastoral associations or other organisations rather than for commercial companies.

Understanding who funds what

Four categories must be kept separate: (1) aid directly granted by the Département; (2) schemes co-financed with the Region or the State; (3) national or European aid accessible locally; (4) funding from partner operators such as Initiative. The location of the business is not enough to turn regional or national aid into departmental aid.

Direct departmental aid

The departmental portal shows targeted schemes, notably in agriculture. For each entry, check the rules, the legal beneficiary, the eligible expenses, the rate, the ceiling, the timeline and the filing procedure. A policy area or a presentation page does not amount to confirmation of an open scheme.

Agricultural and rural aid

Agricultural schemes may target setting up and farm transfer, small investments, studies, biodiversity or specific sectors. They may supplement regional or European schemes, without replacing them. Crisis measures managed by the State must be identified as such and their deadline checked.

Territorial investments and tourism

Some rural or tourism aid is reserved for municipalities, EPCIs, syndicate associations or collective organisations. Private companies should only be declared eligible if the rules expressly provide for it.

Complementary funding

Look into schemes from the Occitanie Region, FEADER, the State, ADEME, Bpifrance and inter-municipal bodies when the project goes beyond departmental schemes. Each aid scheme must retain its legal funder and its own opening status.

How to prepare your application

Before incurring expenses, prepare a project description, a financing plan, quotes, recent accounts, a registration extract, information on headcount and turnover, the location of the investments and sector-specific supporting documents. Do not start incurring expenses before checking whether the rules require a prior application or prohibit expenses already committed.

Checking the status of the aid

A presentation page does not guarantee that a scheme is open. Check the deadline, the available budget, the rules in force and the filing channel. Closed annual calls should remain useful for historical purposes, but must not be shown as currently available.

Combining aid and State aid regime

Combination rules depend on the scheme, the applicable State aid regime and whether the same expenses are funded. Keep references to de minimis rules, the GBER (General Block Exemption Regulation) or agricultural regimes only when they are specified by the official source. If no detail is given, write "to be checked in the rules" rather than assuming aid can be combined.

Points of caution

Do not confuse a grant, a repayable advance, an honour loan, a guarantee, an exemption, support and funding for an operator. An amount announced for a collective project or a platform is not individual aid guaranteed to each business. Aid for local authorities must be directed towards the relevant public project owners.

Schemes identified in this batch

Some are State aid, partner schemes or simple referrals. Entries without an official identifier in the reference list are unvalidated tracking entries and should not be counted as validated aid.

Qualification note

The content is an editorial summary based on institutional sources. It does not constitute an eligibility decision or a guarantee of obtaining aid. Conditions may change and the rules take precedence over the summaries.

Official sources

• Agri-biodiversity programme in the Hérault
• Rural equipment — water and land works
• Departmental support for agricultural sectors
• 2026 emergency fund for cereal and protein crops
• Tourism support — referral to the relevant schemes