It is essential to reach an agreement that will allow all Finnish farmers to benefit from a long-term aid system similar to the existing northern aid. This form of aid has been on the increase during the transitional period and has partly compensated for the decline in transitional aid. The system also covers storage aid for horticultural products, berries and mushrooms, transport aid for milk and meat, and aid for reindeer husbandry. As part of the solution concerning aid for serious difficulties, Finland has also introduced national subsidies for crop production. This support has been paid in the form of a national supplement to the basic environmental aid, meaning that farmers have to meet the criteria for environmental aid.
Aid is paid on grain, starch potato, sugar beet, vegetables grown in the open, apples and grass.
Except for feed grain, aid paid in 1997 only covered A and B areas. Since 1998, however, the aid has also covered rye production in C1-C2p areas and grass throughout Finland. The Finnish government also pays certain other forms of national agricultural aid out of the budget. The most important is aid for food potato and potato used by the food industry, and aid to promote the marketing of agricultural and horticultural products, farmers' training and domestic seed production. Investment support Investment support under agricultural structural policy is essential to efforts to increase the size of farms and safeguard agricultural production.