New strategy

Styria wants to become more self-sufficient

Does Styria produce enough milk to be self-sufficient?

(Bild: TORWAISTUDIO, stock.adobe.com)

A detailed food strategy, a higher level of supply, cooking and common sense need to be learned again: The food strategy that Provincial Councillor Simone Schmiedtbauer is aiming for is taking concrete shape and is set to be a huge undertaking.

At the beginning of the Ukraine war in 2022, discussions were heated: to what extent could we actually be self-sufficient in our country if the going got tough? Would we have enough seed alone to cultivate our fields? Where do we need to sharpen up and build up supplies?

A good two years later, we are hardly a step further, the supply level has not skyrocketed anywhere, the warehouses are not overflowing with seeds. But the plans for the ambitious "white-green food strategy" are now on the table.

Simone Schmiedtbauer with Wolfgang Fank (left) and Robert Buchbauer

(Bild: GASSER BENJAMIN)

More self-sufficiency as a goal
And Food Minister Simone Schmiedtbauer sets the bar high. The cornerstones: "We are already very self-sufficient in meat, milk and apples, but we want to significantly increase the level where there is room for improvement," says the ÖVP politician. To this end, the importance of food needs to be brought back into focus: In our province, 37,000 (!) tons of still good food is thrown away every year without a second thought. This drags down the environmental balance sheet and leaves a hole of 800 euros per household per year in our wallets.

For apples, we recently had a supply rate of 246%, which was already at 398% in 2022

(Bild: Barbara Winkler)

Then: children should take their noses out of their tablets more often and get a taste of farm life. And learn where what we eat comes from - and how it is made: Cooking also needs to be learned again! Schmiedtbauer: "A food literacy course should be held in schools up to the age of 16, which could also start in kindergarten."

Of course, this would also be wise in adult education. Many people may not know how pigs are kept or that the (breast) milk we pour into our coffee is taken from the calf. Only an informed consumer is a responsible one, which is why Schmiedtbauer also wants to make the visibility of regional origin clearer. She also wants a clear path through the jungle of quality seals - but she is sticking to the AMA quality seal, which has come in for a lot of criticism.

Many people buy a barbecue for a lot of money - and then put cheap meat of inferior quality on it. That is absurd

Robert Buchberger

It's an ambitious project that is due to be implemented in the fall. She wants to get a lot of partners on board for the concept: gastronomy, tourism, farmers, schoolchildren, retailers, the Chamber of Labor. A "canteen summit" (Styrians will soon be eating out more than in their own kitchens) is also on the agenda.

Cheyenne Ochsenknecht as a role model
She already has two experts at her side: Robert Buchberger, a gifted grill artist and meat chopper, who is already showing how it can be done in new ways. And technical college director Wolfgang Fank.

Cheyenne Ochsenknecht in Dobl

(Bild: © Sky/B 28 Produktion/Stefanie Schumacher)

Cheyenne Ochsenknecht would also like to be a figurehead: the Instagram star with many followers, who runs a model farm in Dobl with her husband, would of course be an authentic asset with a glamor factor.