Dear [anonymised],

You have submitted a grant application for the ‘Better Farming with Soil Life’ project. The closing date was 10 April 2026. You submitted this application for a grant under the ‘Sterker in 3D’ Regional Deal Grant Scheme, second tranche (hereinafter: the Grant Scheme).

We have decided to award you a grant

We are delighted to inform you that we are awarding a grant of up to €33,000.00 for this project. The grant is being provided to fund the activities set out in your project plan and accompanying budget.

The process by which we reached our decision is set out in the annex. This annex forms part of this decision. It also sets out the purpose for which we are awarding you the grant and, in broad terms, what we expect from you.

Important to know

This decision has been taken in accordance with the applicable statutory provisions and agreements under the ‘Sterker in 3D’ Stedendriehoek Regional Deal. Your application was assessed by an independent advisory committee. We have followed this advice and based our decision on it.

If there are any changes to your project that could affect the grant, you must notify us. Please see the appendix for details on how and when to do this.

Upon receipt of this decision, you will also receive a covering letter from the Regio Deal programme team.

Do you have any questions? Please contact the Regio Deal programme team by sending an email to regiodealS3D@regiostedendriehoek.nl.

Do you disagree?

If you do not agree with the content of this decision, you may lodge an objection within 6 weeks of the date on which the decision was sent. You can do this online using the form at www.apeldoorn.nl/bezwaarschrift or to this postal address:

Municipality of Apeldoorn
Attn: Legal Affairs Department
PO Box 9033
7300 ES Apeldoorn

For more information on the appeals procedure, please visit: www.apeldoorn.nl/bezwaarschrift.

We wish you every success in carrying out these activities.

Kind regards,
On behalf of the Mayor and Aldermen,
[anonymised]

This document has been generated by an automated process and is unsigned.

Annexes

• Details of the decision
• Individual assessment by the Independent Advisory Committee
• Main Report of the Independent Advisory Committee
• Statutory grant scheme for the ‘Sterker in 3D’ Stedendriehoek Regional Deal’
• Explanation of eligible costs
• Budget, including a summary of funding

Appendix 1 – Details of the decision

1. Legal basis

The following statutory provisions apply to this decision:

• General Administrative Law Act (hereinafter: Awb)
• General Subsidy Regulation of the Municipality of Apeldoorn (hereinafter: ASV)
• ‘Sterker in 3D’ City Triangle Region Deal Grant Scheme (hereinafter: Grant Scheme)

2. How did we reach this decision?

Your application has been assessed against the following requirements set out in the Grant Scheme:

• Regional co-funding under the 50% scheme has been approved.
• At least two different stakeholders from the quadruple helix (business, government, education and research, and civil society organisations) are actively involved and make a financial or in-kind contribution.
• The project is (financially) feasible within the timeframe of the Regional Deal, with a schedule and objectives in place.
• The project is regional (spanning municipal boundaries) and/or is of regional significance (economically and/or socially).
• Activities (where applicable) comply with European state aid rules.
• The project falls within the framework of the ‘Sterker in 3D’ Regional Deal agreement, in line with the tasks, objectives, approach and intended outcomes set out therein.
• The project addresses at least one or more of the following themes:
  • circular construction, manufacturing and food supply chains (Track 1);
  • innovation in agriculture and green-blue infrastructure (Track 3);
  • regional (knowledge) development (track 7).
• The project has undergone a substantive assessment by the advisory committee under this grant scheme (the Partner Consultation) and has been awarded a minimum of 140 points.

These requirements can be found in Article 3(2) of the Grant Scheme.

Your application was then assessed in detail by an independent committee. The assessment was carried out on the basis of the following criteria:

• The extent to which the initiative has an impact on one or more of the ‘D’s’ (Sustainable, Diverse, Local) and/or a ‘Powerful Region’, as described in the challenges, objectives, approach and intended outcomes set out in the ‘Stronger in 3D’ Regional Deal covenant.
• The extent to which the initiative has a regional impact.
• The extent to which the initiative provides an additional impetus in terms of accelerating, strengthening or broadening.
• The extent to which the activities are innovative and stand out.
• The extent to which the project has prospects for the future following the Regional Deal.
• The extent to which the project will achieve the intended results.

These criteria can be found in Article 11 of the Grant Scheme.

Your application has been assessed by an independent advisory committee. Your project has achieved a total score of 140 points.

The minimum number of points required to be eligible for a grant has been set at 140 points. For the full assessment and explanation, please refer to Annex 2. We believe that this committee’s advice has been drawn up with due care and can endorse the advisory committee’s conclusions. We have therefore acted in accordance with this advice.

3. Advance payment

The grant will be paid in advance. This is set out in Article 14 of the Grant Scheme. The amount will be paid in half-yearly instalments on 1 January and 1 July of the relevant year:

Any advance payment will be transferred to the following account within two weeks of the specified payment date [anonymised] Payable to. [anonymised].

4. Terms and conditions and obligations

4.1 General Terms and Conditions

We attach the following general terms and conditions and obligations to this grant:

• We are awarding this grant on the condition that the central government makes the full pledged grant amount of 20 million euros available to the Stedendriehoek Region under the Regio Deal. This is a condition precedent. This means that if the Government does not make the contribution available, your grant will be amended or will lapse.
• The grant is intended solely for the implementation of the project in accordance with the aforementioned project proposal and accompanying budget, as submitted to us.
• As the lead partner, you are responsible for the project. The lead partner acts as the official point of contact on behalf of the project and is legally responsible for the project vis-à-vis the Regio Deal organisation and the funding body. You will make arrangements with the project partners and ensure that the funds are distributed amongst them.
• In accordance with Article 3 of the grant scheme, the agreed 50% regional co-financing must be arranged.

4.2 Eligibility of costs

We have assessed the budget submitted with your application and determined that the costs set out therein are eligible for a grant under the Grant Scheme, provided that the conditions set out in this decision are met.

4.3 Itemised budget

You must submit a more detailed and comprehensive project budget by 11 October 2026 at the latest, which sets out:

• The respective costs of in-house and contracted staff, the hire of premises, services or materials supplied, or the purchase of machinery/equipment;
• The calculation of internal labour costs. Please specify the method used to calculate them;
• An explanation setting out the basis for the cost estimate.

4.4 Progress reports

From 2027 onwards, you must submit an annual progress report (covering both content and finances) before 1 April. This report must include, as a minimum: (a) the progress made in implementing the activities; (b) the costs already incurred, compared with the budgeted costs; and (c) any own contributions or contributions from third parties received, compared with the budgeted income. This is set out in Article 16 of the Grant Scheme. Please use the template provided on the Stedendriehoek Region’s website for this purpose.

4.5 Adoption

Once all parts of the project have been completed and the obligations attached to the grant have been fulfilled, you must submit an application for the final grant award no later than 13 weeks after the end of the period for which the grant was awarded. The application must include the following details and attachments:

• A final financial report: setting out the actual costs incurred for the subsidised activities.
• An auditor’s report certifying the costs actually incurred and the contributions received.
• A substantive report setting out how the project’s objectives and outcomes have been achieved, how the eligible activities have been carried out, and how the conditions attached to the grant have been met. Please use the template provided on the Regio Stedendriehoek website for this purpose.
• Supporting documents: Please provide evidence that the subsidised activities have been carried out and that the grant conditions have been met. To this end, we require at least the following supporting documents: photographs and/or other visual material of the activities carried out.

You can do this using the ‘Application for Grant Approval’ form, which is available online on the Apeldoorn municipal website.

4.6 SiSa methodology

If the grant recipient is a local authority, financial accountability shall be provided through the Single Information, Single Audit (SiSa) system. You must account for the use of this specific grant by 15 July of each year at the latest, in accordance with Article 17a of the Financial Relations Act. You must provide this account via the Single Information, Single Audit (SiSa) system, as set out in the SiSa Information Provision Regulations. The indicator number in the SiSa account under which you must account for the costs is: J4.

4.7 Obligation to report

Please ensure that you comply with the applicable obligations and conditions. Any changes to your project may affect the grant. You must notify us of any changes within four weeks if:

• amend the activities for more than 20%;
• the budget changes by more than 20%;
• the implementation cannot be completed before the end of the project period;
• if the conditions and obligations attached to the grant can no longer be met (by other means).

This could mean that you would have to repay (part of) the grant (which has already been paid out).

This reporting obligation is set out in Article 15 of the Grant Scheme and in Article 12 of the Asv.

To report changes, please use the ‘Submit a change request’ form. You can find the form on the Apeldoorn council website.

5. State aid

The implementation of your project involves, in part, State aid as referred to in Article 107(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The grant is lawfully awarded in accordance with the exemption regulations and the de minimis regulations.

5.1 Application of the grounds for exemption

• a. Article 21 of the LVV (knowledge transfer and information provision) — The grant for activities aimed at knowledge-sharing, including the in-depth study of soil biology (Activity 1), is awarded pursuant to Article 21 of the Agricultural Exemption Regulation (LVV).
• b. Article 22 of the LVV (advisory services) — The grant for activities relating to advisory services, including AI monitoring (Activity 2) and parts of Activities 3 and 4, is awarded pursuant to Article 22 of the LVV.
• c. Agricultural de minimis Regulation — The grant for the sub-activities “spraying compost tea” and “compost tea ingredients” is awarded in accordance with the agricultural de minimis regulation, with the benefit accruing to the farmers concerned.
• d. General de minimis Regulation — The grant for the sub-activities “purchase of a compost tea brewer” and “thermometers + app” is awarded in accordance with the general de minimis regulation.

The granting of the subsidy is recorded in accordance with the applicable state aid rules.

5.2 Allocation of the grant across activities

The grant is allocated as follows:

The allocation is based on the budget submitted with the application and is determined in proportion to the budgeted costs for each activity.

Conditions for state aid

The grant is subject to the following additional conditions:

• For activities under Article 22 of the LVV, it must be ensured that a maximum of €25,000 in consultancy services is provided to each final beneficiary over a three-year period.

5.3 Separate accounts

In order to prevent unauthorised state aid, a project partner may only use the grant for activities that are eligible for funding under this decision. Where a project partner carries out (other) economic activities in addition to the subsidised activities, the project partner must maintain separate accounts for the financing, costs and revenue relating to those economic activities.

5.4 Continuation of de minimis aid to agricultural enterprises

Your project involves the pass-through of de minimis aid to final beneficiaries, namely the participating (agricultural) undertakings. For each grant, an assessment must be made as to whether the enterprise in question is eligible for de minimis aid under the General and/or Agricultural de minimis Regulations. To this end, the final beneficiary must submit a de minimis declaration. This applies to all final beneficiaries who are to receive a grant under the de minimis regulations. You can request the relevant declarations via this website: Standard forms for the Framework Decision on national EZK and LNV grants | RVO.nl. Please ensure that we receive the completed declarations by 11 October 2026 at the latest.

In addition, with effect from 1 January 2026 (general de minimis) and 1 January 2027 (agricultural de minimis), there will be an obligation to record de minimis aid granted under the General and Agricultural De Minimis Regulations in a central register. The municipality of Apeldoorn is responsible for recording the de minimis aid it grants.

No rights may be derived from the entry of de minimis aid in this register. The European Commission may, at any time, determine that unlawful State aid is involved, which may lead to the recovery of the aid granted.

6. Communication

Are you planning to publicise your Regio Deal project? If so, we would ask you to state in your communications that the project was made possible in part thanks to the collaboration between central government and the region. To assist with this, the Stedendriehoek Region has made a communications toolkit available to lead organisations on the Regio Deal website.