Photo: BMLFUW/AMA-Bioarch...
Austria’s Agriculture – Tradition and Innovation
Since the clearing of the former “virgin forests” Austria’s agriculture and forestry have been, due to the century-long cultivation, the backbone of rural areas. Farm-based families are important promoters of Austrian culture. How do they orient themselves in the presence and in future?
In the course of the 20th century Austrian agriculture and forestry experienced a comprehensive structural change. The farmers profit from an enormous technological development leap and have seen a re-orientation of their tasks.Agricultural structural change in the 20th century
In 1960 the rate of the working population active in the agricultural sectorstill made up almost one third. In 2006 not more than 5.1 percent of gainfully employed persons were still working in the fields of agriculture and forestry but cultivated 80 % of the Austrian territory.
Of the total number of 189,600 agricultural and forestry enterprises only 39.3 percent are still full-time farms, 56.4 are part-time farms and 4.4 percent are run by legal persons.
An Austrian farm has on average only 35 hectares of cultivated area (utilized agricultural and forestry area), of which 19 hectares utilized agricultural area. Agriculture relies on multi-functionality and the full cultivation of arable land, while it provides a variety of services.
The guiding principle could be from the generalist to the expert. Or from primary production to processed products. Thus there are nowadays organic farmers producing for whole product lines of supermarket chains. There are farms which secure an additional income by farm-gate sale. Farms, which offer farm holidays and which do not only stand for recreation, but also explain to urban children the world of farmers.
Austrian Alpine pasture and mountain farmers do not only produce healthy food, but tend also Alpine pasture and mountain landscapes by means of their heavy “manual work”. Thus the Alpine settlement area and the “nature sports arena” remain appealing and are a point of attraction for local people and tourists.
Innovative forms of farm management
Every farm, predominately managed by farmers’ families, is also an enterprise, a company. Internet connection has helped to reduce the information backlog in rural areas. In this way it is possible to forward farm data to carry on correspondence, to make a bid at online auctions, to purchase something, or to find the right partner for the difficult life on the countryside.
Austria’s farmers profit from fundamental research and from the development of technologies. Be it the knowledge about arable farming, horticulture, viticulture, animal husbandry or organic farming. They profit from the technology for the production of organic fuels. They use like everyone the technological progress by electronics and data processing, be it in mechanical engineering or EDP.
The guiding principle of management is sustainability. How to manage sustainably must be taught and learned. Education and further training are, as for representatives of any other vocational group, of fundamental importance for managers of agricultural and forestry enterprises.
Agricultural and forestry schools, the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, the University of Agricultural and Environmental Teacher Training in Vienna and the numerous further training offers as well as the extension services offered by the Chambers of Agriculture guarantee the expert knowledge of farmers.
Services rendered for the community
Agriculture is an important promoter of the ecological orientation of Austria. It counts on the principle of sustainability and on multifunctionality. Thus Austria’s agriculture renders comprehensive services in the interest of the community.
It ensures a high degree of self-sufficiency with food, supplies people with organic foodstuffs and high quality non-GM foodstuffs.
Management in harmony with nature protects ecologically rich habitats and tends the century-old cultivated landscape.
Austria’s agriculture is also an indispensable part of the overall Austrian economy. Exactly the graspable structure offers a number of opportunities: Thus Austria is playing the increasingly recognized role of a pioneer in the group of EU countries as far as the way of dealing with natural resources is concerned.
This distinct image is borne in particular by the high environmental standards that apply in production, the high percentage of organic farms, modern animal transport regulations, and the landscapes safeguarded by farmers.
The national subsidies and the EU aids for agriculture compensate the farmers for the labour-intensive commitment. They ensure the preservation of farm-based families and a farm-based cultivation and tending. In this way one can put a hold on the rural exodus from extensively used less-favoured areas and mountain areas.
Sustainable agricultural policy
The guiding principle of the socio-ecological agricultural policy has paved the way for the conservation of an economically sound and smoothly-functioning farm-based system of agriculture and forestry in an intact rural area.
22.02.2008, Lebensministerium Öffentlichkeitsarbeit