Context

In den letzten Dekaden gab es unerwünschte Entwicklungen in der Berglandwirtschaft bedingt durch die allgemeine Situation im Agrarsektor. Es sind dies:

• Ein zunehmender Rückgang der Bewirtschaftung von Grünland, insbesondere im steilen Gelände
• Sinkende Einnahmen für landwirtschaftliche Betriebe aus der landwirtschaftlichen Erzeugung und dadurch bedingt steigende Abhängigkeit von öffentlichen Zuschüssen (GAP Reform).
• Eine zunehmende Arbeitsbelastung auf den Betrieben durch die Notwendigkeit zusätzliche Einkommensquellen zu etablieren oder unverhältnismäßige Wachstumsschritte einzugehen.

Dieses Szenario bedroht sowohl die Berglandwirtschaft direkt als auch die Entwicklung anderer Wirtschaftssektoren in der gesamten Region (beispielsweise Tourismus). Daher möchte man diesen Entwicklungen aktiv entgegentreten, indem die Berglandwirtschaft durch innovative Vermarktungsmodelle nachhaltig gestärkt wird.  

Additional comments

In this project, people who are committed to agriculture and science work together with the aim of emphasizing the achievements of mountain farming and increasing their monetary value. To this end, those services provided by agricultural operations that are not remunerated by the market (e.g. food security, genetic diversity, water storage, habitats for biodiversity) are surveyed and quantified and in a further step the provisioning costs are calculated as well as business models, primarily in the form of strategic partnerships with commercial enterprises, are developed to market these services. Close cooperation between agriculture, business and science is intended to create a long-term opportunity to generate additional income for mountain farms.

Additional information

RESULTS AND IMPACT

• Submission of a scientifically sound analysis of the relevant ecosystem services in the context of mountain agriculture in the national park region as well as a data-based assessment of the ecosystem services.
• Development of practicable indicators, tools and procedures for the operational recording of the relevant ecosystem services.
• Production potential of the companies and scaling of the findings to the regional level.
• Provision costs for ecosystem services in mountain agriculture in regions such as the Upper Austrian Limestone Alps National Park.
• Theoretical basic work on communication/mediation suitable for consumers/target groups as a basis for promising marketing of the entire package of ecosystem services.
• Development of potentially marketable business models including a catalog of criteria for the requirements of the target groups.
• Dissemination on a specially developed platform with marketing opportunities.
• Potential income increases for the participating farmers.
• Further use/exploitation of the acquired knowledge, especially for teaching and further education at the scientific partners. 
• Recommendations for action on the transferability of the approach and the results to similarly structured regions.