Tyrol's LK President:

“Brussels paperwork instead of nature & environmental protection”

Farmers in Tyrol make an important contribution to the protection of species by managing mountain meadows. "Unfortunately, the bureaucratic effort involved is increasing all the time," says Hechenberger, annoyed.

(Bild: Klemens Groh/LK Tirol/Krone KREATIV)

Tyrol's LK boss Josef Hechenberger is annoyed by the EU's red tape: "Our work for biodiversity is being hindered!" He calls for a rethink.

Mountain meadows are characterized by their location. These areas are often found at altitudes of 1200 meters or more, are difficult to access and are often extremely steep. For this reason, the cultivation of these areas is abandoned in many places due to the extremely demanding and sometimes dangerous conditions. As a result, the meadows quickly become overgrown and light-loving plants, animals and fungi lose their habitat.

In addition, the risk of soil erosion increases if the meadows are not used, for example through so-called plaiking (slippage of parts of the meadow including the rooted soil, note).

Tyrolean farmers not only provide us with excellent food, but also make an important contribution to species protection and the preservation of our recreational areas.

Josef Hechenberger

Important contribution to the cultural landscape
On mountain meadows, i.e. fertilized or unfertilized areas that are mown at different frequencies, 35 to 55 different plant species can be found on 50 square metres. Unfertilized mountain meadows that are only mowed once a year can even exceed this with 96 different plant species per 50 square metres. There are also a particularly large number of rare, sometimes even endangered species here. With this biodiversity, Austrian agriculture is among the best in Europe.

Plants such as the Turk's cap lily, the man's orchid and the bearded carnation are common, as are a wide variety of fungi, insects and mammals. With their diversity and abundance of flowers, they make an important contribution to the preservation of the cultural landscape and local recreation areas for tourism and society.

(Bild: Manuel Schwaiger (Symbolbild))

Area of mountain meadows increased
In order to prevent the use of the areas from being abandoned due to the sometimes enormous difficulties, there is financial support via a measure in the Austrian Environmental Program. This has enabled the area of mountain meadows to be increased again. Of the total of 15,000 hectares, most are in the province of Tyrol. With over 7100 hectares of mountain meadows, more mountain meadows and mountain mowers are managed today than in 2015.

We can and want to be a role model for preserving biodiversity on the land - but we also have to be allowed to do so!

Josef Hechenberger

Impractical requirements from Brussels
Tyrol's Chamber of Agriculture President Josef Hechenberger is not the only one to appreciate this: "Tyrolean farmers not only set our table with excellent food, but also make an important contribution to species protection and the preservation of our recreational areas. The development in the area of mountain mowers shows that sensible support measures serve their purpose."

However, impractical requirements from Brussels and ever more bureaucracy have the opposite effect and only unnecessarily increase the workload on farms. "We can and want to be a role model for preserving biodiversity on the land - but we have to be allowed to do so!"

Rethinking required
The bureaucracy in Brussels thus manages to make work unnecessarily difficult - keyword renaturation law. "There needs to be a rethink here, otherwise we will have to deal with paragraphs and paperwork instead of nature and environmental protection. And that can't be in the interests of the EU and certainly not of us farmers," says President Hechenberger, annoyed by this pointless Brussels bureaucratic mentality.