Bio Research Austria
| Bio Research Austria | |
|---|---|
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| Seat | Vienna |
| founding | 1980; as "Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Organic Agriculture and Applied Ecology"
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| place | Vienna |
| president | Ludwig Maurer (Chairman) |
| Website | www.bioforschung.at |
Bio Research Austria researches the fundamentals of organic sustainable agriculture . The institute has 17 members and was founded as a non-profit, non-university research and educational institution in 1980 by the Ludwig Boltzmann Society as the "Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Organic Agriculture and Applied Ecology". In 2006 it was taken over by the "Bio Research Austria" association and became "Bio Research Austria" “Renamed.
aims
The goals are:
- Improvement of organic farming with the help of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research
- Implementation of the research results in practice, together with the farmers
- Educating consumers about the benefits of organic food
- Support of the sustainable development of the city of Vienna
activities
The institute analyzes questions that arise in connection with organic farming and sustainable development. The research is practice-oriented and mostly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary . The direct cooperation with the farmers is of great importance for the institute. Mutual learning and getting to know each other is a principle of work. The research results are communicated in lectures, seminars and field days and implemented together with the organic farmers.
history
In 1980 there were no regulations for organic farming in Austria and there was a lack of generally recognized scientific principles. The first task was to create guidelines for organic farming in Austria. Together with the associations of organic farmers in Austria, framework guidelines for organic farming have been drawn up, which have been accepted by both the biodynamic and the organic-biological farming associations . These framework guidelines subsequently served as the basis for the negotiations of the Austrian Food Codex Commission to create a regulation for organic farming . From 1983 a set of rules for organic farming was published continuously within the framework of Chapter A8 of the Austrian Food Book. This set of rules was then the basis for the control of organic farming by the food authorities until Austria joined the EU in 1995. The EU regulation for organic farming , which will become legally effective after Austria's accession to the European Union, has the same basic philosophy as the Austrian regulation: The way in which agricultural primary products and derived products are made is regulated, and not the properties of the products. At the beginning of May 2006, after two years of negotiations from the Ludwig Boltzmann Society , the association “Bio Research Austria” took over the “Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Organic Agriculture and Applied Ecology” by way of a company takeover. The scientific and administrative management of the institute was transferred to two employees of the municipal department 49 - Forestry Office and Agriculture of the City of Vienna , Bernhard Kromp and Wilfried Hartl, both of whom have been working for the institute since 1980. In addition, the City of Vienna - Municipal Department 49 - supports the association through infrastructure and basic financing. The research projects are carried out mainly from third-party funds.
society
The purpose of the association is essentially the maintenance of the research institute and the assumption of research projects. The association is represented externally by chairman Ludwig Maurer and secretary Andrea Schnattinger. The board members and ordinary members of the association are competent personalities from the city of Vienna , the state of Lower Austria and from the group of organic farmers for the areas of environment and agriculture . The Mayor of Vienna, Michael Häupl , is an honorary member of the association.
Organic farming in Vienna
Vienna has an unusually flourishing agriculture for a big city: 14.8 percent of the city's area is used for agriculture. 729 Viennese farms mainly grow vegetables, grain, wine and fruit. The 267 horticultural businesses cover more than a third of the demand for fresh vegetables in Vienna. The Viennese city administration is committed to the production of high-quality, GMO-free food. It owns one of the largest organic farms in Austria , which is managed by Municipal Department 49 - Forestry Office and Agricultural Company. The city's aim is to convert all of the city's own agricultural areas to "organic" in the next few years. The institute accompanies this process. The Vienna City Administration is also involved on the sales side . In the city hospitals, geriatric centers, all-day schools, kindergartens and retirement homes, on average, 30 percent of the food is bought from organic production. In order to protect the climate, fruit and vegetables are procured from the region if possible. By buying organic food in the city, 23,775 tons of carbon dioxide can be saved annually.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://bioforschung.at/organisation/
- ↑ http://bioforschung.at/team/
- ↑ Guidelines for Organic Farming - Cheaper Products . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna October 1, 1981, p. 07 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ Statistical Yearbook Austria 2010, table: 1.13 Area and types of use, status: January 1, 2009
- ↑ Annual report of the Vienna Chamber of Agriculture 2009, Chapter 3.1 Farm structure, p. 12
- ^ Annual report of the Vienna Chamber of Agriculture 2009, Chapter 4.1.1, p. 21
- ↑ Platform "Voluntarily without genetic engineering"
- ↑ Climate protection program of the City of Vienna, update 2010 to 2020, field of action D.4 Food, p. 176 (PDF; 3.3 MB)
- ↑ Vienna's climate protection program KliP successful, city hall correspondence of April 17, 2008