Drought aid rules leave Carinthian farmers facing bureaucracy

Carinthian farmers struggling with ongoing drought are encountering bureaucratic obstacles when seeking emergency aid, ORF Kärnten reported on Monday. With little feed left on pastures, many have had to use hay intended for winter.

The ministry and Agrarmarkt Austria, the agency responsible for agricultural market support, announced eased conditions for drought aid. But the rules have caused confusion and additional paperwork in practice, as the case of a sheep farmer shows.

With almost nothing growing on her pastures, the farmer looked for replacement grazing land to preserve her winter supplies. She found land belonging to another farmer, but it is designated for nature conservation and can normally only be used with restrictions. Grazing is allowed there only from September 15.

Under the drought emergency aid scheme, Agrarmarkt Austria says the land can now be used immediately. When the sheep farmer tried to report the grazing, however, the responsible funding office told her that the report could not currently be submitted because the provincial government’s database was closed for maintenance.

The Chamber of Agriculture confirmed that the maintenance work would last 14 days. It is carried out at this time every year to update data for the next funding period, the chamber said. Farmers affected can still submit the changes by email to the provincial nature conservation authority.