The Formation of „Eco-regions“ in Austria and the Role of the Structural Fund

The concept of “Eco-regions” (or “Bioregionen” in German) entered the discussion on rural development in Austria several years ago. Broadly, this expression means the combination of sustainable farming in particular organic farming practices, and the marketing of their produce with the aim of assisting regional development. As we shall see, this concept can take various forms of expression. It can be restricted to the agricultural sector or extended to a general regional strategy. The common feature is a territorial form of cohesion under the umbrella of organic farming. The very idea comes from two directions: the organic movement on one hand and regional development on the other

The Case Study Method in Organic Research

This paper argues that the systematic complexity of agriculture requires a methodological pluralism, and that case studies, used hitherto as an ad hoc and exploratory approach, might be developed as a rigorous and appropriate investigational tool in their own right, with particular relevance for the organic sector. It provides a review of the main outlines of the approach and illustrates its application in the context of marketing initiatives and their impact on rural development processes. It concludes that important insights into how and why policies work can be obtained from a comparative case study framework, which cannot be wholly obtained from other approaches

Wie wächst der Bio-Bereich gesund?

Innsbrucker Agrarsoziologen untersuchen im Projekt „HealtyGrowth“, wie sich der biologische Landbau weiterentwickeln soll: Gemeinsame Werte sind entscheidend. So richtig Bio gibt es am Marktstand, bei dem man mit dem Landwirt über die Ernte, die glücklichen Kühe und Hühner oder einfach nur über das Wetter plaudern kann. Aber ist es auch noch Bio, wenn dieses Etikett im Supermarkt reihenweise Waren tragen? Beziehungsweise, was muss getan werden, dass diesbezüglich – abgesehen von der korrekten Herstellung der Produkte – beim Konsumenten keine Zweifel aufkommen? Mit solchen Fragen beschäftigt sich seit drei Jahren der Agrarsoziologe Markus Schermer von der Uni Innsbruck im europaweiten Forschungsprojekt „HealtyGrowth“. Am Beispiel von drei österreichischen Vermarktungsinitiativen war er dem „gesunden Wachstum“ auf der Spur: Bio vom Berg (Tirol), sowie Biohof Achleitner und Bio-Region Mühlviertel (beide Oberösterreich). „Die Frage war, wie Biolandbau wachsen kann, ohne seine Werte zu korrumpieren“, sagt Schermer. Wobei die Innsbruck Wissenschaftler besonderes Augenmerk auf die Kommunikation legten. Andere Forschungsgruppen gingen der Organisation, der Geschäftslogik, der Vermittlung der Werte entlang der Wertschöpfungskette oder der Stabilität von Bio-Landwirtschaft an insgesamt 20 Beispielen nach

Eco-Regions: How to link organic farming with territorial development

Organic farming in Austria has seen a rapid development as all over Europe. In some alpine regions over 50% of the farms have converted to organic. Thus the idea of forming “Eco-Regions” (“Bioregionen” in German), transforming organic farming values from a farm level to a regional scale, emerged. The paper presents the results of an action research based project to develop a model for the formation of Eco-Regions and to monitor the success in cross-sectoral networking. Besides a number of prerequisites also bottlenecks for the formation become apparent. The paper describes the model and the implementation in two distinct regions

A territorial approach to organic farming: the case of eco-regions in Austria

The ongoing changes from an agricultural to a rural society require from farmers to define their position new. Organic agriculture provides a value system which is well accepted by non-agricultural rural stakeholders and can therefore be a potential starting point for territorial sustainable development. In Aus-tria the approach of eco-regions (Bioregioen) provides such an approach. The paper gives some preliminary results on the preconditions necessary for the establishment of such an approach building on the results of an ongoing national project. Furthermore different strategies how to position the organic agenda within the framework of various regional development strategies are discussed

Transnacional en Casa: Huertos interculturales y la sostenibilidad de las ciudades en Innsbruck, Austria

The impact of social stability and cohesion on the sustainability of cities gains importance as changing relations between societal groups of different cultural background increasingly shape life in urban environments due to global migration. Urban gardening initiatives and intercultural gardens are receiving growing public attention, especially within Germany and Austria, as a means of migrant integration. The paper uses the inter- cultural community garden in the Austrian city of Innsbruck as a case to illustrate these processes. The empirical material is based on interviews, besides observations during a public garden visit and newspaper clippings. The paper describes changing patterns from clas- sical emigration over work migration to transmigration and living in transnational social spaces. Intercultural gardens are conceptualized as specific forms of transnational spaces, which localize them and at the same time open them to multi-ethnic spaces. As intercultural gardens are organized as communal spaces, they provide new social networks for persons from different provenance and encourage various learning processes. Thus they impact on two key dimensions of the social sustainability of cities, social cohesion and the stability of communities, and allow new ways of interaction between different cultures beyond assimilation and integration.El impacto de la estabilidad y la cohesión social para la sostenibilidad de las ciudades gana importancia, ya que las cambiantes relaciones entre grupos sociales de diferente origen cultural influyen cada vez más sobre la vida urbana debido a procesos de migración global. Iniciativas de huertos urbanos y huertos interculturales reciben cada vez más atención pública como medio de integración de los migrantes, sobre todo en Alemania y Austria. En este artículo se utiliza el huerto comunitario intercultural en la ciudad austriaca de Innsbruck como un caso para ilustrar estos procesos. El material empírico se basa en entrevistas, aparte de observaciones realizadas durante una visita pública al huerto y artículos de prensa. El artículo describe los cambios de patrones de migración desde la emigración clásica sobre la migración laboral hacia la transmigración y vivir en espacios sociales transnacionales. Los huertos interculturales están conceptualizados como formas específicas de espacios transnacionales, lo que los localiza y al mismo tiempo los abre como espacios multiétnicos. Debido a que los huertos interculturales están organizados como espacios comunales, proporcionan nuevos enlaces sociales para personas de diferentes orígenes y promueven diversos procesos de aprendizaje. Así impactan en dos dimensiones claves de la sostenibilidad social urbana, que son la cohesión social y la estabilidad de las comunidades; y favorecen nuevas formas de interacción entre diferentes culturas más allá de la asimilación y la integración

„Ökologische Modernisierung“ durch Biologischen Landbau in Österreich?

Organic farming is finding increasingly widespread acceptance. The paper tries to examine whether the growth of organic farming is also connected with a transformation of economy and society under the heading of “ecological modernisation”. We use the example of Austria which is the EU-country with the highest percentage of organic farm area. The results of a survey undertaken in the frame of the EU-Project „Further Development of Organic Farming Policy in Europe, with Particular Emphasis on EU Enlargement“, EU-CEE-OFP are interpreted along the grid of ecological modernisation (GIBBS, 2000). The analysis suggests that the impact of organic farming was so far moderate and only towards a weak form. However there is a certain future potential in the combination of organic with regional development

Der Beitrag des Biolandbaus zu einer territorialen Entwicklung

The ongoing changes from an agricultural to a rural society force farmers to redefine their positions – regarding social as well as economic aspects. Organic agriculture provides a value system which is well accepted by non-agricultural rural stakeholders and can therefore be a potential starting point for territorial sustainable development. In Austria the approach of eco-regions (Bioregionen) provides such an approach. The paper gives some preliminary results on the preconditions necessary for the estab-lishment of such an approach building on the results of an ongoing national project

Full case study report: Bio vom Berg - Austria

‘Bio vom Berg’ is best described as a producer owned brand, operated by the cooperative ‘BioalpineGen.’, which covers a full range of organic products, produced, processed and sold mainly in the region of Tyrol/Austria (see red circle in Graphic 1). The supply chains involve about 600 farmers who produce mainly milk but also fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat or cereals. Additionally, a number of processors (one big regional dairy for fresh milk and yoghurt, 10 local small dairy cooperatives for cheese, a butcher for meat, a chocolatier, a bakery and most recently a mill and a dairy processor for yoghurt in South Tyrol) are involved. Marketing and distribution is done mainly (accounting for about 60% of the turnover) through a regional family based supermarket chain (MPreis). Furthermore, the grain is processed by a large regional bakery (Ruetz), which sells its organic bread under the brand name ‘Bio vom Berg‘. Other (minor) marketing channels include organic wholesalers in Germany, a specialist chocolatier in Styria and a number of partners supplying via wholesalers the gastronomy sector and some small specialized shops in the region. The case was considered for investigation under the HealthyGrowth project because Austria has a very strong retailer/discounter sector and a remarkable direct marketing sector as well. ‚Bio vom Berg‘ aims to link these two aspects by selling the best from the organic mountain farmers in the regional retailing supermarket

Full case study report: Biohof Achleitner - Austria

Biohof Achleitner is located in the fertile Eferding basin along the Danube in Upper Austria. The business has grown significantly in the last 15 to 20 years and is a good example of the growth potential of organic farming through diversification into several business branches and cooperation with other farms. In 1986 Mr. Achleitner and his wife took over the 20 hectare vegetable farm from his parents. In 1990 they converted fully to organic farming. Today, apart from their own agricultural production (farming of vegetables and grain) they also run an organic wholesale, an organic restaurant (‘Kulinarium’) and attached to it a small shop (‘Frischmarkt’) for vegetables, fruits, bread, wine, cheese, cosmetics and a variety of other products. Moreover, since 1998 they also started delivering organic products to households, which is currently the largest box scheme in Austria. Today, customers have the opportunity to decide between eleven different box offers (i.e. from office boxes to mother/child boxes) to be delivered every one or two weeks. Apart from fresh fruits and vegetables, the customers can also choose from a huge variety of other organic products as the ‚Biohof Achleitner’ complements his product line with imports of organic wholesalers and a number of domestic suppliers for various product groups. Furthermore, customers receive a weekly newsletter (‘Kundenbrief’) with ecological issues or cooking recipes, etc