Case study: farming in eastern Austria

The lowlands in eastern Austria form one of the country's most important agricultural regions — Austria's "breadbasket". The Pannonian climate (warm, dry summers and cold winters) and nutrient-rich, deep soils such as Chernozems and Cambisols support productive farming.

After WWII, mechanisation, synthetic fertilisers and bigger fields greatly increased productivity — but also reduced organic inputs and accelerated SOM loss. Yet the story does not end there. In eastern Austria, SOC levels in arable soils have increased by roughly 17% over the last 30 years. This is closely linked to Austria's agri-environmental program (ÖPUL), which encourages practices that support soil health (Wenzel et al., 2022).

Farmers in these programs increasingly leave crop residues on their fields, grow cover crops between main crops, diversify rotations, reduce tillage intensity, and apply organic amendments.