Austria: {Österreich}

The Austrian Food System

Austria is always open to innovative solutions for agricultural purpose, though due to its northern climate, the country can only operate with a limited number of crops. However, even though there are barriers regarding the climate, agriculture, forestry, and fishing accounts for around 2.5% of Austria’s total gross value added, which is more than the EU average. Crops account for around 50% of the agricultural output whereas animal output is slightly over 40%. Milk production is the main contributor of this.

32% of Austria’s land is made up from agricultural land. Across this, there are more than 110,000 farms in Austria, with each farm consisting of (on average) about 20 hectares of land. Farming can be quite difficult in Austria due to where majority of the farms are located, such as in mountains and other restriction areas, however farmers are still able to produce their crops and farm livestock with their knowledge, expertise and support from others.

One of EIT Food's main tasks is to bring innovation, especially around food production and agriculture, to the market more quickly with the help of start-ups and thus to make the food system healthier and more sustainable together with SMEs.

Almdudler is considered Austria’s national drink. The original beverage is a sweetened drink made out of grape and apple juice concentrates and is flavoured with 32 natural herbs.