Soil protection systems in Lower Austria

Soil is primarily the basis for the production of food, feed, raw materials and renewable energy. In addition, soil provides society with other important benefits (including ecosystem benefits) such as precipitation filtering, water storage and retention, pollutant buffering and nutrient storage and provision. Soil protection systems (including windbreak hedgerows and multi-purpose hedgerows) play a vital role in ensuring and maintaining agricultural soil productivity; in particular they protect our valuable soil against wind and water erosion.

The province of Lower Austria therefore promotes the establishment of soil protection systems as key building blocks of biotope interconnections. This includes advice, planning, planting and nursery management of hedgerows. Applicants for support (private landowners, municipalities and farming communities) must make available the land needed to put these systems in place.

Every year, the Lower Austria agricultural district authority’s soil protection stations establish about 20 hectares of new soil protection systems, with around 20 000 trees and 60 000 shrubs. Over more than 60 years, Lower Austria has set up a total of over 3 000 hectares of soil protection systems, protecting around 15 % of our province’s arable land. These hedgerows make a valuable contribution to the green infrastructure in Lower Austria.