At the beginning of the press conference in the Tullnerfeld District Chamber of Farmers, chamber chairman Mathias Holzer quoted former US President Bill Clinton: “It simply cannot be the case that there is speculation with food.” Ensuring an adequate supply of high-quality and healthy food is of great importance to us Company. And that’s exactly what local agriculture stands for. “As a chamber, we are actively committed to promoting and marketing regional products,” emphasized Holzer. The labeling of origin plays an important role because: “Transparency and trust are important foundations for buying food.” This is why we are in constant communication with consumers.
The latter was also emphasized by district farmer Eva Hagl-Lechner, be it when visiting schools or through the numerous direct marketers in the district: “We are working hard to make seasonality and reginality, i.e. eating and living with nature, tasty,” said Hagl- Lechner. This is the only way to successfully counteract the “quantity over quality” that prevails in many supermarkets. On October 16th, World Food Day, the farmers will be out in schools in the district again. “Our goal remains that every child “I was once on a farm myself.” The Muck family in Trasdorf, for example, has implemented corresponding initiatives.
Abundance of educational opportunities for declining numbers of farmers
For farmers, the BBK Tullnerfeld offers “a whole bouquet of educational opportunities,” as chamber secretary Josef Meyer emphasized. In addition to security of supply, it is also about soil protection, because: “Every square millimeter of soil that is eroded takes 100 years to be recreated.” If you consider that a generation is at the helm for around 30 years, that would still be the grandchildren meet.
Deputy Chamber Chairman Fritz Buchinger added about the importance of agriculture: “You have to keep in mind that around three percent of the population feeds 100 percent.” The number of farmers has been declining until recently. In 2010, Statistics Austria’s agricultural structure survey showed 1,684 agricultural businesses in the district; in 2020 there were only 1,471, a decrease of 213 or 12.7% (across Lower Austria the number fell by 9.9 percent in the same period).
Fortunately, the chamber representatives emphasized in unison, the diversity in Tullnerfeld and Wagram is still great, be it in grain, fruit, vegetables, honey and wine or in animal husbandry.
