Effekter av investeringsstödet i miljö- och landsbygdsprogrammet för perioden 2000-2006
en studie på företagsnivå
Investment aid is a part of the Rural Area Programme, which contains support to Swedish agriculture and the countryside. There is a new programme every seventh year and SLU (Swedish University of Agriculture) has the mission to perform the evaluation of the previous programme, which lasted between 2000 -2006. The investment aid's aim is to support investments that, among other things, support the adaptation or conversion to more environmentally friendly production methods, improves the product quality, develops new or complementing activities, and improves the environment and the animal- and working environment. The question is if it's only money that matters for these kinds of investments to be done and what has happened with the money that was paid? This thesis investigates how the investment aid has affected the receivers. Hopefully, it can contribute to the full evaluation of the previous Rural Area Programme.
The method for the work has mainly been in-depth interviews with four applicants and a phone survey with 42 applicants. The aim with the in-depth interviews was partly to get a deeper understanding of the impacts of the aid and partly to formulate questions that could be used in the phone survey. The sample of applicants was made proportionally to the total population, which implies that, even though the sample is relatively small, it still provides a good picture of the reality. The total population of applicants was 4478 people. There were no relations between the one's who didn't respond and size of investment or aid.
The results show that the average size of investment among those who got their application approved was about 1.3 million Swedish kronor. The most common investments were investments in stables and milk production. About a third of the respondents consider the aid to have been very determining for the implementation of the investment and about 75 percent consider the aid to have been determining in some degree. The aid was more determining for investments aiming to reduce the environmental affection and develop new activities, than for other investments. The results also show that the largest challenge with the investment was to find time to do it. Financing was one of the smallest challenges. The implications of this thesis and the full evaluation of the Rural Area Programme can hopefully contribute to the rules and regulations about the investment aid being better designed in the future.