Over the past 25 years, the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein has collected, observed, and selectively bred for desired traits from a wide variety of Austrian grassland sites. The Gumpenstein varieties are propagated domestically and form the basis for many high-quality seed mixtures, guaranteeing seed producers competitive market prices compared to other European countries. While domestic forage seed production at the end of the 1990s was around 165 tons, spread across 410 hectares, current production stands at a substantial 700 tons, spread across 1250 hectares. This means that Austria can now be considered self-sufficient in forage seed production by more than 30%. Since forage plant breeding at the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein is a non-profit activity, with its primary focus on supplementing the existing range of grass and legume varieties available in Austria for grassland farming, future activities will remain within this framework.
