Experimente von Biobäuerinnen und Biobauern in Österreich

Summary

Farmers’ experiments can be defined as the activity of trying or introducing something totally or partially new at the farm, including evaluation of the success or failure. In this research, topics, motives, methods and evaluation strategies of farmers’ experiments are investigated. Personal interviews were conducted with 73 organic farmers (47 semi-structured interviews, 26 structured questionnaire interviews). Organic farmers in Austria were found to experiment in a broad range of topics. To evaluate the experiments, all farmers conducted observation, and most of them also comparisons. Farmers experiment to find own creative solutions for their specific conditions and emerging problems. It is advisable to support farmers in their experimentation activities, provide room for experimentation within regulatory frameworks and to make active use of the outcomes of farmers’ experiments for the development of local agricultural systems.