Vienna farms shrink as greenhouse harvests grow

Vienna’s agricultural sector is changing rapidly, with fewer farms and less cultivated land but sharply higher harvests for some products, ORF Vienna reported as the city hosted its harvest thanksgiving festival on Heldenplatz square this weekend.

The shift is particularly clear in horticulture. Vienna had 263 horticultural businesses in 2010, but only 178 ten years later, a decline of almost one-third. The area under cultivation shrank by nearly 40 percent over the same period.

Despite this, some products are now harvested in significantly larger quantities. Greenhouse tomato production rose from 12,600 tonnes in 2015 to more than 19,000 tonnes in 2025. The output of peppers grown under protected conditions more than doubled. Other crops declined sharply, including carrots, whose production fell by more than 70 percent.

Pressure on land

The economic importance of agriculture in Vienna has increased significantly in recent years, according to the Vienna Chamber of Agriculture. The value of agricultural production rose from 74.8 million euros in 2015 to 118.3 million euros in 2024, the chamber told ORF Vienna on Sunday.

At the same time, farms face challenges linked to agriculture in an urban environment. The chamber identified intense pressure on land as the main issue, saying Vienna was competing for available space with housing and infrastructure. Securing agricultural land for the long term remains a central task, it said.

Climate change is also affecting the sector. This year was particularly difficult because of drought. Farms are also dealing with a growing labour shortage and increasing bureaucratic requirements.

New sources of income

In response, many businesses are becoming more creative and innovative. The Vienna Chamber of Agriculture said farms were increasingly developing additional sources of income, including direct sales from the farm, educational programmes known as “school on the farm” and social services in the field of Green Care.

New niches and urban forms of production are also gaining importance. These include mushroom cultivation, aquaponics, fig growing and snail farming.

While many farms are testing new crops and cultivation systems, protected crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers continue to play an important role in vegetable production, according to the chamber.