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How Austria is supporting its nature-friendly farmers - an NFFN view

Northern Ireland
agroforestry
biodiversity
arable
Dairy
Livestock
pesticide reduction
regenerative farming

As part of the Farming for Nature Ambassadors scheme NFFN Northern Ireland Manager Cormac Dolan recently visited nature-friendly farmers in Austria to see how they work and are supported. Here are his reflections on a trip that provided much food for thought.

A decade ago I climbed Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitze. I sat on the summit, where the German-Austrian border is located, and enjoyed the enticing, stunning backdrop of the Alps' mighty peaks. Those memories quickly came flooding back as I returned to Austria to find the country is still scaling heights, this time when it comes to nature-friendly farming.

I travelled to Austria to meet some of its Farming for Nature Ambassadors, a scheme that also celebrates a number of nature-friendly farmers in Northern Ireland. What I quickly discovered was just how much can be done when an approach that balances food production with nature and biodiversity is properly supported at all levels of government.

The first visit was to the 20-hectare organic dairy farm run by Andreas Badinger. His organic system produces high-quality milk that is valued in raw cheese making, and Andreas puts biodiversity right at the heart of his farming. There are patches of native woodland, and the edges of fields are either left entirely or cut later in the year for nature. Despite the warm summers, he dries hay inside to ensure his herd receives the most nutritious diet possible, with no silage involved. The hay loft is dry and full of a rich smell, and you can even taste hints of the hay in the milk. Andreas receives agri-environmental payments from both regional Austrian authorities and the European Union (EU).

Andreas Badinger welcomes the visitors to his farm. Photo: Ailbhe Gerrard.

From there I headed to Alexander Steindl’s farm, easily the most diverse operation on the trip. On about 50 acres Alexander and his wife farm pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, chickens and turkeys, all on free range, pasture-based systems. He uses a visually-stunning 'sun paddock' system for rotational grazing with a central channel to give the animals access and gates to control entries and exits to individual paddocks. I do wonder if poaching in the central area might be a problem in wetter climates, but there's no doubt it seems to be working well here.

Alexander sells directly to his customers, telling the story of producing his meat with a bold social media presence, and also supplies restaurants with his pasture-raised broilers. Around 28 different types of fruit tree can be found on the farm, with Alexander using agroforestry both to increase biodiversity and to help retain water.

With Austria reeling from recent catastrophic flooding, I was particularly interested to see how planting trees in line with the contours of hillsides enables Austrian farmers to slow the flow and prevent nutrient run-off. I couldn’t help reflecting on the huge potential savings for society if this approach was scaled up and more widely used.

The Austrian Government has a results-based payment system that farmers like Andreas and Alexander are using to full advantage. Indicator species are used to identify the quality of habitats around the farm, with practices that minimise environmental damage also scoring well. Doing the right thing allows them to obtain the highest levels of payments, providing that extra financial security to farm businesses that are clearly thriving.

It's clear that in Austria, even though the ministries for agriculture and the environment are separate, they both put a high value on protecting nature and balancing biodiversity with high-quality food production

Cormac Dolan

Next it was on to another pair of farms that were completely different, yet still managed to put nature at the centre of things. Jakob Meyer makes high-end schnapps from the fruit of the trees growing in his rich hay meadows, which he has nurtured through his land management. Unsurprisingly, Jakob also obtains the highest agri-environmental payment levels for his approach.

Rudi Schmid, meanwhile, is an arable farmer with a passion for maintaining rough margins. His enthusiasm is so infectious, and he has been doing this for so long, that some of the Austrian schemes’ options were developed following visits to his farm. His field edges are cut to different time scales, with some having not been cut for 20 years while some get attention on an annual basis. This allows a greater variety of flowering plants, which helps birds and insects thrive.

Our final farm visit in Austria was a very different landscape to the towering peaks of the Alps. Otto Knaus runs a 12-hectare organic vineyard in eastern Austria, close to the border with Slovenia. He makes a range of natural wines and is particularly proud of the way he provides habitat for native reptiles. This also has a practical result, as the reptiles predate rodents and prevent the loss of grapes. As a devout enthusiast of nature, Otto finds this approach far preferable to using pesticides or other artificial inputs, and it's better for his bottom line too.

Pigs on Alexander Steindl's farm. Photo: Ailbhe Gerrard

Following the farm tours it was time to leave the countryside behind and head into Vienna for meetings with the Ministry of Agriculture. We got to speak to the decision-makers in charge of shaping and maintaining the schemes that we had seen benefitting nature-friendly farmers out in the field. It was clear that farming and environment ministries, although separate bodies, both put a high value on protecting nature. Equally obvious was that close working with the EU was benefiting farmers, with everyone on the same page about the balance of biodiversity, financial viability and really high-quality food production.

One thing that particularly struck me during my time in Austria was how young farmers were in positions of influence and control. We met people in their late 20s and early 30s in charge of the business, even where their parents were still working on the farms. This is something you rarely see in Northern Ireland, and I couldn’t help reflecting if this set-up helped the Austrian farms achieve their blend of tradition and new vision.

Visiting Austria was both inspiring and disheartening, but we have to remember that there are reasons to be hopeful in Northern Ireland and there are people with the same passion for pushing farming in the direction of practices that enhance the environment

Cormac Dolan

With the development and rollout of agri-environment schemes in England, Wales and Scotland best described as a mixed picture, and Northern Ireland still a long way behind on developing what will replace the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the visit to Austria was like stepping into another world. It shows how different things could be if we could leave behind the tiresome ‘food vs nature’ debates, recognise they are dependent on each other and properly support farmers who want to see a sustainable future. It was both inspiring and disheartening at the same time.

Having said that, it would be wrong to say there are not reasons to be hopeful in Northern Ireland. The recent success of the Fields Good regenerative agriculture festival, the many positive stories and people I come across working for the NFFN, and the success of schemes such as the Farming for Nature Ambassadors show the same values do exist here.

We also have the same pride in farming land worked by the generations who came before, the drive to pass on something valuable to those who will succeed us, and the passion to push farming in the direction of practices that enhance the environment we rely on. Wherever we are on the journey through the agricultural transition, we must keep pressing for the policies that will enable both farming and nature to thrive.