Austria is the EU’s most ‘organic’ state with over 25% of land farmed organically (EU average: 10.5%), while almost 80% of Austria’s 110,000 farmers participate in agri-environment schemes (AES), over double Irish rates.

I recently visited Austria to learn more about this fascinating country and its farmers.

One of the most striking aspects of the Austrian farmscape is the absence of field boundaries: instead of hedgerows, walls or wire fences, a simple marker post is often used to define parcels, supplemented with mobile fencing when stock are present. This results in a seamless patchwork of crops – maize, grass, wheat – usually in the form of ‘strips’, owned and managed by different farmers.

It was fascinating to visit Austria where climate change impacts, from floods to droughts, are now a reality.

As the consequences become clearer, some farmers are implementing innovative adaptations which also offer a competitive advantage in reaching climate-conscious consumers, and are underpinned by strong state support.

Embracing change

Certainly, the inspiring young farmers I met are embracing change as they embark, or continue, on their Austrian farming journeys.

One such farmer is Andreas Badinger, who runs a 20ha dairy farm (national average is 24ha), with areas of forest and fruit trees. Apple juice (Applesaft) is a standard on Austrian dinner tables, with local processing facilities widely available.

The forestry is a vital source of home fuel, split logs arranged artistically outside most farmhouses.

Andreas’s income is derived from two main sources – the milk from his 12 cows (national average: 20) and AES payments for organic farming and for his ‘biodiversity strips’.

Such payments can reach up to €1,500/ha but average €600/ha.

With about 1,500mm of annual rainfall locally, Andreas dries his two to four cuts of hay inside a massive timber barn.

A grab, mounted on overhead rails, is used to move the loose hay inside, with heaters on hand to dry it. The hay in the loft is fed through a trapdoor to the cows tethered in the dairy beneath, reminiscent of traditional systems.

Customers

While this seems like a lot of work, there is a method to the madness. Andreas, and 300 other farmers in the region, sell this ‘hay milk’ at a premium price – up to 70c/litre – to customers who love the idea of such ‘traditional’ dairy produce.

Andreas feels the inconvenience of the system is compensated for by the quality of the hay and the certainty of saving it in unpredictable weather.

And unpredictable it is: Rudi Schmid runs an 80ha arable farm near Vienna, growing wheat, maize and soya, in an area heavily impacted by recent ‘once in a thousand year’ floods when local rivers burst their banks and inundated fields.

This is in stark contrast to extended summer droughts, often causing soil loss through windblow.

Rudi’s natural solution to prevent soil being lost to wind and water is to plant tree strips and ensure year-round crop cover.

Observations

Rudi is part-farmer, part-scientist and, using his barn as a lecture theatre, shares detailed observations on various nature conservation measures he has taken.

Some of his land has been left fallow for 30 years to support target species, a valuable and rare repository in an intensively farmed arable landscape where land can easily fetch €40,000/acre.

Rudi’s farming and botanical knowledge has seen him feed directly into the design of AES measures in Austria, where farmers must keep 7% of their land as ‘space for nature’.

This has caused a lot of frustration – largely due to what farmers feel is the inflexibility of the ‘control’ system – a theme familiar to Irish farmers.

Result-based payment schemes – familiar to ACRES farmers – are being piloted and may provide a more flexible alternative.

Otto Knaus runs a 12ha organic vineyard in the hills of southern Austria. His approach is very nature-centric – because of personal interest, but also to build resilience and competitive advantage.

Mowing

He alternates mowing in the rows between his vines, cutting high to allow good cover for wildlife and for soil retention.

Uniquely, he has trees – fig, hazel, walnut and cherry – growing among his vines, creating habitats for wildlife and shade for himself to escape the oppressive heat.

Otto’s strives to maintain a natural balance between pests and beneficial organisms.

Among his secret weapons are snakes (smooth, grass and Aesculapian species), slow-worms and green lizards, for which he has specially-constructed nests.

These help to control insects, voles and mice which might otherwise harm his valuable grapes, and to convince impressed visitors to buy his wine.

Alexander Steindl has a mixed farm in lower Austria where he keeps 10 Murbodner cattle, 400 broiler chickens and 50 Turopolje pigs.

The free-ranging chickens are moved daily using wire netting and sell at a premium of €16/kg, slaughtered on-farm using a mobile abattoir (€4.50 per bird).

Alexander currently has 168 different varieties (28 species) of fruit growing on his farm, many grown in his own nursery and planted in ‘woody strips’ along the contour lines of his hilly fields, in part to improve nutrient, water and soil retention.

Diversity is central to Alexander’s farming strategy.

The stories of many of these Austrian farmers, including subtitled videos, may be seen at www.farmingfornature.at/en/