Agriculture and forestry

The Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry have not, through steering, sufficiently ensured the effectiveness of the state financing aimed at reducing nutrient loading from agriculture. The ministries should define load reduction targets clearly and in a well-reasoned manner, allocate financing to the most cost-effective measures and sites and produce systematic information on the impacts of the financing.

Investments clearly have a positive link to the profitability of a farm, but the impact of investment subsidies cannot be assessed on the basis of the information currently available. Moreover, the subsidy scheme is not compatible with the business-like operating model of modern agriculture.

The total impacts of the direct subsidies, compensations and tax subsidies that the state grants to private forestry should be assessed in greater detail. The objectives of promoting wood production and safeguarding biodiversity set for the funding schemes should also be better coordinated. The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of the Environment should develop the allocation, conditions and monitoring of the support schemes so that, as a whole, they serve as many of the objectives set for private forests as possible.

Government grant authorities have managed grants awarded from the proceeds of gambling activities essentially in compliance with legislation, but there are shortcomings in the supervision. The grant award process is not fully transparent, and the effectiveness perspective does not seem to have a particularly significant steering effect on the allocation of the grants.

The priorities in Prime Minister Sipilä’s Government Programme were implemented by means of key project funding. One of the priorities was “Bioeconomy and clean solutions”. The National Audit Office conducted three performance audits related to this priority area in 2018–2019. The audit recommendations have been implemented partially, but there is still room for improvement in the preparation and implementation of strategic programmes and models.

The economic, social, and ecological sustainability of mining has been a subject for discussion in Finland, in the EU, and around the world. All these aspects of sustainable mining can be important in view of the sustainable management of central government finances.

The state regulates mining operations in many ways, and a variety of different permits are required for mining. In connection with mines, reference is often made to a “social licence to operate”, which aims at preventing conflicts between the mine and local people.

The aim of the audit is to produce information on the current state of preparedness for exceptional circumstances and disruptions in Finland and to promote cost-effective resolution of problems arisen during the Covid-19 pandemic. The balance sheet of the National Emergency Supply Agency was slightly over EUR 2 billion at the end of 2019. In practice, the agencies and institutions of all administrative branches have expenditure related to security of supply. The actual audit focuses on the sectors that the Covid-19 pandemic is considered to have affected the most.

Prime Minister Sipilä's Government allocated a total of EUR 323 million to bioeconomy and clean solutions and set up five key projects. However, the project objectives were achieved only partly. The NAOF assessed how well the key project system promoted the achievement of the objectives. In addition, the NAOF assessed the functioning of the Government's new strategy model and key project system.

Makera received EUR 90 million of additional funding as part of the key Government project on bioeconomy. The impact of the additional funding on the implementation of the Bioeconomy Strategy cannot be separately assessed, however, as the additional funding was merged with other forms of agricultural investment aids. The agricultural administration should assess financial profitability of the different investment aid types on central government finances. It should also assess how well the supported investments reach their effectiveness goals.

The agricultural subsidy administration is complex. The main audit question was to assess the efficiency and legality of the administration of agricultural subsidies.