Against concreting over

Activists storm silo tower in Lower Austria

Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner on the silo tower.

(Bild: Tom Lachmayr Greenpeace)

Greenpeace activists climbed a grain silo in Engelhartstetten, Lower Austria, and unfurled a 72 square meter banner calling for "more fields and less concrete". Their message is aimed at the next government. The environmental protection organization is calling for a ban on building on high-quality agricultural land in the future.

Greenpeace is calling on the new government to stop building on high-quality agricultural land. "Our initiative 'Austria's 9 concrete treasures' has shown that High-quality agricultural land is being built on and sealed for more than half of the final concrete projects," criticizes Melanie Ebner, Greenpeace soil protection expert.

"We will soon run out of space to grow food"
In Tyrol, for example, the St. Johann industrial estate was chosen as the concrete winner. Fertile areas that should be used exclusively for domestic food production are to be destroyed for this - so-called agricultural provision areas. "If we continue to concrete over fertile soils without restraint, we will soon run out of space to produce healthy, local food." 

(Bild: Tom Lachmayr Greenpeace)

In Austria, 11.2 hectares of land continue to be used every day, a large proportion of which is sealed with concrete and asphalt. Greenpeace calculated at the beginning of the year that around 4300 hectares will still be lost for agricultural use in 2024. "It is irresponsible that the ÖVP-led Ministry of Agriculture has allowed fields, meadows and pastures to be built on and sealed without restraint in recent decades. This is putting our domestic food production at risk," says Ebner. Greenpeace is calling on the next government to rethink.