Healthy soils are the basis of our life
Sustainable agriculture and forestry need healthy soils. Soils provide the basis for food and biomass production, they filter the groundwater, store water, nutrients and carbons, and offer habitats to numerous organisms. However, soils are also a basis for work, living, leisure time, food supply or clean drinking water.
Sustainable agriculture and forestry require healthy soils. Soil is the foundation for food and biomass production; it filters groundwater, stores water, nutrients, and carbon, and serves as a habitat for numerous organisms. Soil is also the foundation for work, housing, recreation, food supply, and clean drinking water.
In Austria, soil protection is enshrined as a cross-cutting issue in a wide range of legal regulations at the federal and state levels. Relevant provisions are contained, for example, in the Fertilizer Act and, in particular, in the soil protection laws of the states.
Soil cannot be reproduced and is difficult to regenerate, which is why it is essential to ensure the preservation of large areas of soil suitable for multifunctional use.
Focus on Soil Fertility
In the agricultural sector, the Common Agricultural Policy is one of the most important pillars for comprehensive soil protection. Numerous soil protection measures are provided for in both mandatory and voluntary programs. In particular, measures such as green cover, mulching, and direct seeding—and, of course, organic farming—contribute significantly to improving soil fertility, building up humus, and reducing erosion in Austrian arable soils.
The Austrian Agri-Environmental Program (ÖPUL) plays a particularly central role here. More on this topic.
The effects of climate change, which also affect the soil, are already strongly felt in agriculture. Preserving and, where possible, improving soil fertility must therefore be the central concern.
Advisory services and subsidies
The Federal Ministry is also in charge of an important advisory body, namely the Advisory Board for Soil Fertility and Soil Protection, which has been active for more than 30 years already. All important institutions of relevance to soils are represented in this body. Topics addressed there include for example fertilisation, soil cultivation, soil functions, soil consumption. In addition, numerous funding and research channels deal with the different aspects of soil protection. One crucial novelty which was introduced with the current subsidisation period is the European Innovation Partnership. It carries out research projects in which issues that arise in practice are addressed jointly with scientists to find new solutions. Many topics of relevance to soils have already been dealt with in this research channel. The Ministry’s research programme, too, does a lot of soil-related research. Moreover, soil protection is also a key topic in some educational projects. Of course, soil research is also supported by other organisations on federal as well as on provincial level.
EIP-AGRI (Only in German)