Drought leaves Lower Austria’s alpine farmers without feed

Drought has left pastures across Lower Austria brown and dry, forcing many alpine farmers to bring animals down or transport feed and water uphill, ORF reported. The worsening situation was evident at an alpine hiking day on the Kapler Alm alpine pasture in Reinsberg on Saturday, where farmers also criticised the federal government.

The Kapler Alm is one of 108 alpine pastures and communal grazing areas currently operating in Lower Austria. Almost 7,000 cattle graze there, or should graze there, but little feed remains. The pastures cover 4,200 hectares.

Josef Mayerhofer, chair of the Lower Austria Alpine and Pasture Farming Association, said three quarters of alpine farmers had already taken initial measures, including bringing animals down from the pastures or carrying feed and water uphill.

“When you have a farm at home, animals in the barn and see that nothing is growing in the meadows and fields, it affects you,” Mayerhofer said. He described the situation as extremely difficult because nobody had feed available. Bringing animals down meant using feed harvested for the following year, he added.

Josef Obweger, chair of the Austrian Alpine Farming Association, said the conditions in Lower Austria represented “a new dimension”. Drought and losses were occurring elsewhere, he said, but in Lower Austria some animals were being kept on the alpine pastures only so they could move around.

Farmers at the event repeatedly criticised the federal government for failing to agree on a drought aid package. Matthias Pöhacker, chair of the Reinsberg Weidegenossenschaft grazing cooperative, said he did not know whether he could continue operating. He questioned why flood damage was paid from the disaster fund while drought damage, which he also described as a natural disaster, was not covered by the same fund.

Johannes Schmuckenschlager, president of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture and an ÖVP member of the National Council, said the issue was not about giving farmers money through subsidies but about securing the population’s food supply. The funding was needed to cover higher feed costs, he said, adding that there were still “ideological blinders” preventing action.

Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner, an ÖVP politician and former director of the Lower Austrian Farmers’ Association, said she expected a solution but warned that some decision-makers had not recognised the scale of the issue. The drought across Lower Austria was about food security for everyone, not an individual party or government, she said.

It remains unclear whether drought-affected farmers will receive financial compensation and how much it would amount to. Feed is also difficult to buy because the drought is affecting the whole of Europe. Farmers are waiting to see whether further rain will ease conditions for nature and agriculture, particularly alpine farming.