This summer a LAD round opens in which the state covers 60–100% of the cost of young-stand thinning, afforestation and restoration. The application window is short — 15 July to 17 August. We look at the per-hectare rates, the main conditions, and how this co-financing changes the tending bill for buyers and owners.
Why this round matters right now
Tending and restoring a forest costs money. Planting, agrotechnical tending, thinning young stands — these are expenses that arrive years before the first revenue from a felling. It is exactly this cost side that state and EU co-financing can cut substantially.
The Rural Support Service (LAD) has opened its latest round under two forest-support programmes. Applications run from 15 July to 17 August 2026 — under a month, and a hard deadline, because LAD does not review applications submitted later. The total available funding is almost €11 million: €8.5 million in the "Investments in sustainable forestry" programme and a further €2.43 million in the programme on forest-ecosystem resilience.
The key thing to grasp is that the application window is short, but the preparation takes time — before you can apply you need a document agreed with the State Forest Service (VMD). So this is a topic where delay costs money: if you own a young stand or a clear-cut that you will have to tend or restore anyway, the state is currently willing to cover most of the bill.
Who can apply and what is funded
The support is not aimed only at large companies. Private individuals who own land or forest land, farms, legal entities and municipalities can all apply. If you own forest land or agricultural land you plan to afforest, you are most likely eligible for at least one activity.
The "Investments in sustainable forestry" programme (LAD's label is LA 7) covers four actions:
The second programme (LA 8) is about forest-ecosystem resilience and ecological value; it targets biodiversity and natural forest features rather than timber production. This article focuses on the first programme, because that is the one that changes the cost of tending and restoring a commercial stand.
- young-stand thinning — adjusting the number and species mix of trees in a young stand;
- afforestation — establishing new forest on agricultural or other land, with agrotechnical tending;
- stand replacement — replacing a low-value stand with a more valuable one;
- restoration of stands destroyed by fire and natural disaster — including after windthrow, snow damage or spruce bark-beetle (Ips typographus) damage.
Support rates: how much you can actually get
Support is calculated at a fixed rate per hectare, and the intensity — the share that is covered — is 60% or 100% depending on the activity. The current rates:
Restoration of destroyed stands is the only activity at 100% intensity — within the rate, the state covers all of it. For the other activities, count on 40% of the cost staying with the owner.
After afforestation or restoration you can claim additional support for agrotechnical tending — up to three times, and for afforestation that is €323/ha each time. This follow-up tending often decides whether the young stand survives, so it is worth planning the support together with the main action rather than separately.
- afforestation — €1,514/ha, intensity 60%;
- stand replacement — €1,472/ha, intensity 60%;
- young-stand thinning — €512/ha, intensity 60%;
- restoration of destroyed stands after disaster — €1,430/ha, intensity 100%.
Main conditions and limits
The rate is not "free money" — each activity has conditions to check before you plan:
These limits are not a formality: they decide whether a given compartment fits an activity at all, and how much support it is due.
- Afforestation. The maximum area in a single round is 20 ha per applicant. The minimum is 0.5 ha if it does not border forest; bordering forest, it can be smaller. If land fertility exceeds 30 points, you may afforest no more than 5 ha.
- Young-stand thinning. In birch stands up to 10 years old — once; in birch stands aged 11–20 — once, if the dominant species changes; for other species up to 20 years — up to twice.
- Agrotechnical tending. For planted stands within the project, up to three times.
- Completion deadlines. If the project is only thinning, afforestation or replacement without follow-up tending, the work must be finished by 31 August 2027; if agrotechnical tending follows — by 31 August 2029.
- Monitoring. Afforested, restored and replaced stands have a five-year monitoring period after tending is completed. Thinning has no monitoring requirement.
How co-financing changes forest economics (and where MezaData helps)
For a buyer and an owner this support changes the calculation, because it cuts the cost side. If you plant a new stand or thin a young one, the state covers 60% of the set rate; if you restore forest after windthrow or bark beetle, the cover reaches 100%. What looks like the full cost "on paper" turns out to be only a part of it in the real bill.
For a buyer this is a concrete due-diligence point. A property with young stands or fresh clear-cuts is not just "not earning yet" — part of the future tending and restoration cost can be covered by the state, and that is worth factoring into the price negotiation. For an owner already planning thinning or restoration, the question is even more direct: should you align the work with the support round so that part of the bill is paid by someone other than you.
To see whether a property even has such areas, it helps to look at compartment data. MezaData shows each compartment's dominant species and age from the State Forest Register — young stands with a low age and clear-cuts (zone category 14) are exactly the areas these activities usually apply to. It does not produce a ready application, but it lets you quickly judge whether it is worth going further and talking to a forest surveyor or consultant.
How to apply: MAAIP and deadlines
Applying is not a single step, and part of the work has to be done before the LAD system. The main precondition is a Forest Management Support Intervention Plan (MAAIP), agreed with the State Forest Service. Without it you cannot submit an application, and the agreement itself takes time — it is worth starting straight away, not in the final week.
The practical sequence is simple:
The support rates and conditions are set by Cabinet Regulation No. 561, and LAD publishes the round details on its website. Before applying, make sure you are working with the figures of the current round, because the funding and rates can differ from round to round.
- prepare and agree the MAAIP with VMD, marking the compartments where actions are planned and all the follow-up agrotechnical tending;
- submit the application in LAD's electronic application system (EPS) between 15 July and 17 August;
- if it is unclear whether a given area qualifies, turn to a forest consultant or surveyor who will inspect the property.
Sources
- Rural Support Service — LA 7 "Investments in sustainable forestry" and LA 8 — 4th round 15.07–17.08.2026, available funding, per-hectare rates, conditions, MAAIP and deadlines.
- Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 561 (03.10.2023) — rules on granting, administering and monitoring the support; the legal basis for the rates and conditions.
- State Forest Service — EU support 2023–2027 — forest restoration, young-stand tending, afforestation and MAAIP agreement with VMD.