Farmers accuse politicians of dithering over drought aid

Drought has left fields without yields and livestock without feed, with damage in Austria estimated at at least one billion euros. Farmers are waiting for concrete support while politicians debate possible aid measures, ORF reported on Tuesday.

Storms over the past few days have not eased the situation for farmers in Upper Austria. Andreas Hetzlinger, a dairy farmer from Pram and deputy chairman of the IG-Milch association, said no political decisions had been made in the past two weeks.

“I no longer understand the world. Why are politicians doing nothing except dithering?” Hetzlinger said.

Upper Austria’s agriculture councillor, Michaela Langer-Weninger of the Austrian People’s Party, described the situation facing many farms as threatening their existence. She also criticised the pace of action by the federal government.

“Overall, he is right, because it really is dithering, and that annoys us in agricultural policy, including here in Upper Austria,” Langer-Weninger said.

Proposals for an aid package are on the table, she said, but clear decisions are needed so farmers know how they can continue operating.

Upper Austria cannot draw on the disaster fund because drought is considered an insurable loss, Langer-Weninger said. About 90 percent of arable land and 60 percent of grassland in the province are insured. Upper Austria spends 18 million euros a year on this, with the federal government doubling the amount.

Langer-Weninger said farms were expected to take precautions themselves by building up feed reserves and taking out insurance. However, she said this level of drought was an extreme situation in which individual precautions were not enough and public support was needed.

The Greens are calling for a dedicated drought relief fund. Provincial councillor Stefan Kaineder has also called on Langer-Weninger and Governor Thomas Stelzer, both members of the Austrian People’s Party, to act.

Langer-Weninger said Kaineder was responsible for drinking water supplies and should help finance wells instead of focusing on agriculture. Many wells have now dried up, she said.

The insurance industry is also facing challenges from increasing dryness. Winkler warned that no one could yet say how losses would develop. Heavy rainfall in the coming weeks could lead to flooding after the prolonged dry period, he said.

In the longer term, farmers will need to adapt to increasingly extreme weather. Michael Schmidthaler, a farmer and professor of agricultural management at the Steyr University of Applied Sciences, said southern Europe could offer lessons because many regions there had faced similar conditions for longer.

At the same time, he said Upper Austria should build on the strengths of its agricultural sector and further develop areas that have traditionally worked well there. Langer-Weninger pointed to research into climate-resilient plants and forest laboratories examining which tree species might cope better with future conditions.