Rural development is the 'second pillar' of the common agricultural policy (CAP), reinforcing the ‘first pillar’ of income supports and market measures, by strengthening the social, environmental and economic sustainability of rural areas. The main objectives of rural development support measures are to (i) foster the competitiveness of agriculture and forestry, (ii) ensure the sustainable management of natural resources and climate action and (iii) achieve a balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities, including the creation and maintenance of employment.
Rural development programs are funded jointly by the European agricultural fund for rural development (EAFRD) and national budgets, and may be prepared on either a national or regional basis. Since the 2023 reform of the CAP, the rural development actions have been included in national CAP strategic plans.
Since the establishment of EAFRD in 2007, the legislation governing the support for rural development has undergone several amendments and revisions. Owing to these changes, the collection of data about rural development support measures in the farm structure surveys (now integrated farm statistics surveys) also needed to change in order to be aligned with the specific legislation in force. To ensure data comparability of the rural development actions over time, a new hierarchical classification scheme was created, which contains nine types of intervention measures for rural development. Several classification levels are needed to link the varying measures over time.
| Rural development legislation in force | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regulation 1698/2005 | Regulation 1305/2013 | Regulation 1305/2013 | Regulation 1305/2013 | |||
| RURALDEV | Rural development | 2010-2013 | 2016 | 2020 | 2023 | 2026 (provisional) |
| RDEV_A | Investments | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_A01 | Investments for forests | x | x | x | x | |
| RDEV_A011 | Investments for afforestation | x | ||||
| RDEV_A012 | Investments for the establishment of agroforestry | x | ||||
| RDEV_A013 | Investments for the improvement of resilience in forestry | x | ||||
| RDEV_A014 | Investments in forest technologies and processing | x | ||||
| RDEV_A02 | Investments for animal welfare | x | ||||
| RDEV_A03 | Investments for infrastructures | x | ||||
| RDEV_A04 | Investments for the restoration of damage to agricultural or forestry production | x | x | x | x | |
| RDEV_A05 | Investments in diversification | x | ||||
| RDEV_A06 | Investments for the establishment of irrigation systems | x | ||||
| RDEV_A07 | Investments scheme for small farms | x | ||||
| RDEV_A08 | Investments for the production of renewable energy | x | ||||
| RDEV_A09 | Investments in physical assets | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_A010 | Non-productive investments | x | ||||
| RDEV_A011 | Investments for agricultural products | x | ||||
| RDEV_A0111 | Investments to add value to agricultural products | x | ||||
| RDEV_A0112 | Investments to respect Community standards | x | ||||
| RDEV_B | Farm and business development | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_B01 | Setting up young farmers | x | x | x | ||
| RDEV_B02 | Start-up for new farmers | x | ||||
| RDEV_B03 | Start up for income diversification | x | x | |||
| RDEV_B04 | Start-up for non-agricultural activities | x | ||||
| RDEV_B05 | Business support for small and medium-sized enterprises | x | x | |||
| RDEV_B06 | Business development | |||||
| RDEV_C | Commitments | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_C01 | Commitments for animal welfare | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_C02 | Commitments for organic farming | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_C03 | Commitments for environment and climate | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_C04 | Commitments for the support of genetic resources | x | ||||
| RDEV_C05 | Commitments for environment and climate related to existing forest land | x | x | x | ||
| RDEV_C06 | style="text-align: left;"| style="text-align: left;"|Commitments on afforested land or agroforestry systems | x | ||||
| RDEV_D | Area-specific disadvantages | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_D01 | Habitats and water framework Directive | x | ||||
| RDEV_D011 | Habitats Directive - Natura 2000 | x | x | |||
| RDEV_D012 | Water framework Directive | x | x | |||
| RDEV_E | Natural constraints | x | x | x | ||
| RDEV_E01 | Natural constraints related to area | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_E011 | Mountainous area | x | ||||
| RDEV_E012 | Non-mountainous area | x | ||||
| RDEV_E02 | Risk management | x | x | x | x | |
| RDEV_F | Knowledge exchange and dissemination of information | x | x | x | x | |
| RDEV_F01 | Learning from innovative projects | x | ||||
| RDEV_F02 | Participation in trainings | x | ||||
| RDEV_F03 | Received farm advisory services | x | x | x | x | |
| RDEV_G | Cooperation | x | x | x | x | x |
| RDEV_G01 | Cooperation for generational renewal | x | ||||
| RDEV_G02 | Cooperation targeting commitments related to environment or climate | x | ||||
| RDEV_G03 | Cooperation to support quality schemes | x | x | x | x | |
| RDEV_G04 | Cooperation to support interbranch organisations | x | ||||
| RDEV_G05 | Cooperation to support tourism activities | x | ||||
| RDEV_H | Digitalisation | x | ||||
| RDEV_H01 | Digital tools for irrigation | x | ||||
| RDEV_H02 | Digital tools for the production of renewable energy | x | ||||
| RDEV_H03 | Digital tools for small farms | x | ||||
| RDEV_H04 | Training on digital tools | x | ||||
| RDEV_H05 | Precision farming | x | ||||