Whether they are aware of it or not: people who hike, ski or simply enjoy the sun in the Alpine pastures are using an agricultural ecosystem service for which they usually don't even pay. The aim is not to turn every Alpine pasture into an amusement park for which you have to pay an entrance fee.
Alpine pastures in Austria
Alpine pastures have a high cultural, ecological and tourist value. This is based on the centuries-old, mostly cooperative management of grassland areas in mountain areas. The economic necessity of cultivating alpine pastures for successful food production in the valley so that there is enough fodder in the winter no longer exists at least since the milk quotas were abolished. Additional costs for fencing, herding and transporting animals and a general decline in the number of agricultural operations have meant that the number of managed alpine pastures has declined not only since the reintroduction of the wolf. While there were over 9,100 alpine pastures in 2000, there were only around 8,000 alpine pastures in 2020. Of the Austria-wide alpine land register area (around 937,500 ha in 2020), only a third is actually used as livestock pasture (the “alpine fodder area” was around 310,600 ha in 2020).
What do alpine pastures do?
Alpine pastures do a lot: in addition to the classic functions of the alpine pasture, such as producing food on extensive grassland and protecting against natural hazards (avalanches, erosion), there is also the preservation of diverse animal and plant species and cultural services such as conveying identity and traditions as well as the recreational opportunities for visitors. The fact that alpine pastures have a high level of biodiversity is also reflected in the milk from alpine cows that do not receive any additional concentrated feed. This milk has a high content of omega-3 fatty acids and a lower proportion of saturated fatty acids, as a study by Margit Velik showed in 2013. Using genetic analysis, the diversity of alpine pastures can even be demonstrated in milk and their species richness can be determined, as the Innsbruck zoologist Daniela Sint recently demonstrated.
Communicate the value of the alpine pastures
As part of a specialist lecture on the topic of “Alpine Alpine Ecosystem Services”, we asked the expert audience which alpine pasture services are important to them. The services mentioned can be classified into seven groups:
- Traditional food production
- Landscape as “food for the soul”
- Nature experience for tourists
- Alpine culture and cultural heritage
- Nature conservation and biodiversity
- Animal welfare
- Maintaining vitality in rural areas
It is noteworthy that all of the classic functions of the alpine pasture were mentioned, with the exception of protection against natural hazards. The subsequent question about possible customers and their expectations unleashed a high level of creativity. There were also innovative marketing ideas, such as the Alpine pasture as a place of strength for burnout patients, the commodification of scenic views to corporations for the construction of chalet villages or the construction of natural play and leisure areas.
However, the majority of the marketing ideas aimed to convey the Alm's existing and traditional services in such a way that a larger number of customers become aware of their value. There are already established examples for many of these offers.
| Services provided by the alpine pasture keepers as a prerequisite | Mediation/commodification |
| Can that do anything? | Want to have it! |
| Design visiting points, rest areas, Brünndl etc | Nature experience for tourists, relaxation |
| Organize Alm events: Almkirtag, Almauftrieb, Almabtrieb | Alpine culture and intangible cultural heritage |
| Receive and pass on experiential knowledge | Alpine culture and intangible cultural heritage |
| Keep areas free through grazing, mowing and turning | Beautiful landscape, "food for the soul" |
| Preserve biodiversity-rich (forage) areas | Nature conservation / biodiversity |
| Grazing the alpine pasture | Animal welfare/animal health |
| Preservation of agricultural businesses | “Vitality” of rural areas |
| Production and processing | Traditional food production |
Alpine pastures preserved
It should be noted that none of these marketing options alone can ensure the continued existence of alpine pastures. Existing funding, such as compensation for mining operations and for nature conservation measures, must also be maintained. Additional communication measures that create a community awareness of the value of the alpine pastures are essential.
In addition, with companies' mandatory sustainability reporting, further options for compensating for services come into play. The concept of agricultural ecosystem services provides an argumentative basis for this. On the one hand, this honors nature's achievements for agriculture, but on the other hand, it also honors the achievements of location-appropriate agriculture for society.
There are different ways to reimburse services. In addition to classic funding, there are contract solutions as part of the value chain. Alpine farmers can join together to form marketing communities in order to achieve premium prices for alpine products on the market. Examples of this are “Almo” or “Bio vom Berg”, where this concept has been successfully implemented.
Another option is results-based contract solutions. The prerequisite for this is that performance can be measured using indicators and target values. A systematic survey of agricultural ecosystem services was developed as part of the Added Value Mountain Agriculture project and is available for implementation projects as part of the FarmLife ecological assessment tool.
Further links and literature
https://raumberg-gumpenstein.at/forschung/aktuelles/projektrechnung-mehrwert-berglandwirtschaft.html
Alm-at (2021) Alpine farming prepared in numbers. Available at: https://www.almwirtschaft.com/almwirtschaft/almwirtschaft-in-zahlen (06-2024).
Kirner, L. and Wendtner, S. (2012) Economic perspectives for alpine farming in Austria within the framework of the CAP until 2020 and after the end of the EU milk quota. Research report, Agricultural Policy Working Aid No. 41, AWI Federal Institute for Agriculture, Vienna.
Velik et al. (2013) Fatty acid patterns of Austrian pasture-raised, alpine and supermarket milk as well as milk from corn silage rations. Conference for Organic Agriculture 2013, 1 – 2, HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein.
https://tirol.orf.at/stories/3280308/
Photo sources: Finotti, E. and HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein
