1 |
Case Study Site (CSS) |
9 – Alpenvorland (Austria) |
||
1.1 |
Responsible partner |
14 – AGES – OSTERREICHISCHE AGENTUR FUR GESUNDHEIT UND ERNAHRUNGSSICHERHEIT GMBH |
||
1.2 |
Short description of the CSS |
Alpenvorland/OÖ Zentralraum is located in the north west of Austria with mixed farming systems: arable and husbandry. AGES collaborates with farmers with crop field experiments - mainly variety testing but also on fungicide and growth regulator tests and fertilization experiments and on soil and crop protection. AGES conducts a long-term compost field experiment with mineral and organic (different kinds and amounts of composts) fertilization. FiBL Austria has close cooperation with organic farmers in the region, e.g. through its long-term on-farm research project Bionet. |
||
2 |
Location |
|||
2.1 |
Postal address |
AGES Linz, Wieningerstraße 8, 4020 Linz |
||
2.2 |
Name of region, province or canton |
Alpenvorland |
||
2.3 |
Coordinates (google earth) |
48°18’N 14°25’E |
||
2.4 |
Altitude in meters (below sea level) |
280 |
||
3 |
Characteristics |
|||
3.1 |
Climate |
Continental, 753 mm mean annual precipitation, 8.5°C mean annual temperature |
||
3.2 |
Land use |
Mainly agriculture, forestry, industry |
||
3.3 |
Main crop |
Cereals (e.g. winter wheat, winter barley), maize, soy bean, rape; vegetables |
||
3.4 |
Water supply (e.g. irrigation system) |
Often not necessary |
||
3.5 |
Type of drinking water supply |
Ground water |
||
4 |
Farming systems |
Conventional |
Organic |
Integrated |
4.1 |
Assessment of feasibility to find farming systems in (reasonable) geographical isolation |
>5 |
>5 |
- |
4.2 |
Potential for increasing yield |
yes |
Yes |
- |
4.3 |
Potential for reducing costs |
yes |
Yes |
- |
4.4 |
Application periods |
March to May (fertilizer, pesticides) |
- |
|
4.5 |
Alternative farming methods |
Reduced tillage, crop rotation, cover crops |
- |
5 |
Plastic use / other stressors |
Conventional |
Organic |
Integrated |
5.1 |
Sources of MPs |
Compost, plastic mulches (esp. vegetables) |
Compost, plastic mulches (esp. vegetables) |
- |
5.2 |
Plastic types |
No information yet |
No information yet |
|
5.3 |
Pesticides used: - |
https://www.baes.gv.at/en/admission/plant-protection-products/plant-protection-products-register/ |
Only organic plant protection |
- |
5.4 |
Veterinary drugs enter via dung |
no data yet |
||
6 |
Ongoing sharing of experiences |
|||
6.1 |
Ongoing training provision |
Field days: at farm Kastenhuber in Bad Wimsbach annual field days with 500-800 participants are organised since 2006 (before Corona pandemic) in collaboration with AGES and the agricultural chamber |
||
6.2 |
Ongoing studies on agricultural production in the region |
AGES field station with different field experiments including the compost trial |
||
7 |
Human population |
|||
7.1 |
Demographics: age distribution |
Upper Austria in 2020: Age 0-17: 18.1% Age 18-64: 63.2% Age 65+: 18.6% |
||
7.2 |
Density |
124 inhabitants per square km in upper Austria |
||
7.3 |
Main villages |
Linz; Steyr; Wels; Alkoven; Eferding; Fraham |
||
7.4 |
Regional & local organisation of health system, access to health information |
Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Linz. Agricultural Chamber Linz. |
||
7.5 |
Socio-economic characteristics |
Alpenvorland: € 33.286 annual income from agriculture and forestry per farm in 2018 (-16% compared to 2017) |
||
7.6 |
Main sources of income by sector |
agriculture |
||
7.7 |
Social security system, subsidies (farmers) |
Family allowances & subsidies. |
||
8 |
Relevant stakeholder organizations |
|||
8.1 |
Local authorities |
Federal province of Upper Austria, Agricultural Chamber, AGES |
||
8.2 |
Farmers union |
Agricultural Chamber of Upper Austria |
||
8.3 |
Other |
|||
9 |
Diagnosis |
|
||
9.1 |
Problems/threats/challenges |
Preservation of soil quality with intensive agriculture, increase of nutrient (N, P) use efficiency, increasing droughts, missing possibility of irrigation. |
||
9.2 |
Potential for increasing soil quality |
yes |
||
9.3 |
Ongoing research and innovation actions on agricultural production |
Arable field experiments, evaluation studies of agro-environmental measures |
||
9.4 |
Data availability – MPs in soil |
Austrian soil map (eBOD), soil analyses actions in Upper Austria with basic soil parameters (e.g. pH, plant available nutrients, soil organic matter): data used in evaluation studies of the agro-environmental measures. |
||
10 |
Links to relevant information |
|||
Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety: https://www.ages.at/en/topics/agriculture/ FIBL-AT: https://www.fibl.org/en/locations/austria.html Agricultural chamber: https://www.lko.at/ Austrian soil map (eBOD): https://bodenkarte.at/ |
11 |
References |
Spiegel, H., Mosleitner, T., Sandén, T. and Zaller, J.G. Effects of two decades of organic and mineral fertilization of arable crops on earthworms and standardized litter decomposition. Journal of Land Management, Food and Environment, 2018, 69(1), 17-28. doi: 10.2478/boku-2018-0003 Ros, M., Klammer, S., Knapp, B., Aichberger, K. and Insam, H. Long-term effects of compost amendment of soil on functional and structural diversity and microbial activity. Soil Use and Management, 2006, 22, 209–218. Tatzber, M., Schlatter, N., Baumgartner, A., Dersch, G., Körner, R., Lehtinen, T., Unger, G., Mifek, E. and Spiegel, H. KMnO4 determination of active carbon for laboratory routines: three long-term field experiments in Austria. Soil Research, 2015, 53(190), doi: 10.1071/SR14200. Dersch, G. & Spiegel, H. (2020). Humusaufbau braucht noch mehr Engagement. Bauernzeitung, 34/2020, 20.August 2020, S. 7. |