In Austria, a predominantly mountainous country in the middle of Europe, in general high nature value farming, clean environment and rich cultural and natural heritage prevail. The landscape is characterised by the high proportion of less-favoured areas (LFA), most of which is classified as mountain area. The mountain area comprises 70 percent of Austrian territory and 58 percent of the Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA). The area of permanent settlement in the mountain area is very limited.
For a long time, agricultural policy in Austria has aimed to preserve multifunctional agriculture and family farming, maintain the cultural landscape and provide targeted support to farmers in less-favoured areas, in particular to mountain farmers. In pursuing these objectives, Austria has gained considerable experience of mountain farming subsidies, as well as with regional programmes specific to the mountain area and agri-environmental programmes over recent decades. These payments are particularly important in Austria because mountain farming has a key role in safeguarding the sensitive eco-system through the preservation of the multifunctional landscape and the general living and working space.
