For centuries, Austria’s agriculture has served as the basis for the quality of life in rural areas and as the foundation of the country’s historical and cultural tradition[1]. In 2020, agriculture contributed around 1,1% of Austria’s GDP.[2] Despite the very small share of agricultural and forestry activities themselves in Austria’s gross value added, upstream and downstream economic sectors make a significant contribution to sales revenues and employment and thus represent important economic sectors for the country.[3].  In 2020, an average of 3.9 percent of the workforce in Austria was employed in agriculture[4].

Because non-wage labor costs are high in Austria, it is relatively expensive to hire workers. There is also a lack of well-trained personnel in many cases. For this reason, many companies are trying to automate work steps. Digitization has enormous potential in this regard[5]. Digitalization tools and concepts have been used in Austrian’s agriculture for some time[6]

Some key facts about the automatization of Austria’s agricultural sector:

• 850 farms milk in Austria with automatic milking systems
• Over 70% of Austrian agricultural businesses use the Internet for business management
• 13% of Austria’s arable land are cultivated with GPS-controlled technology
• Every 5th farm uses digital farm management systems for recording and documentation programs
• 6% of farmers use precision farming systems
• 3% of farms with <50 ha arable land and 21% with >50 ha arable land use precision farming systems[7]

The attitude of farmers toward Agriculture 4.0 is predominantly positive and, according to a survey, the farmers feel well informed[8].

[1] https://landforstbetriebe.at/themen/landwirtschaft

[2] Statista: https://bit.ly/3DOAG8K

[3] https://genos.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/genossenschaftswesen/Eller_L__2021__Solidarische_Landwirtschaft_in_%C3%96sterreich_Alternativen_f%C3%BCr_den_Agrarsektor.pdf

[4] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/217608/umfrage/erwerbstaetige-nach-wirtschaftssektoren-in-oesterreich/#:~:text=Im%20Jahr%202020%20waren%20in,und%2071%20Prozent%20im%20Dienstleistungssektor.

[5] https://info.bmlrt.gv.at/themen/landwirtschaft/digitalisierung/praxis/tierhaltung.html

[6] https://www.umweltbundesamt.at/digitalisierung/nachhaltiger-mehrwert-fuer-die-landwirtschaft

[7] Rural Education Institute (Ländliches Fortbildungsinstitut) – Digitalisierung in der Land- und Forstwirtschaft

[8] https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20210729_OTS0080/digitalisierungs-studie-baeuerliche-betriebe-offen-fuer-innovationen