13,000 tons of vinegar gherkins are consumed in Austria every year. Upper Austria is the number 1 pickle state: Twelve producers grow on 123 hectares, 93 percent of Austrian production comes from our state. However, competitiveness is decreasing, said Franz Waldenberger, President of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, yesterday: With a total area of 2,164 hectares for vegetables, a peak was reached in 2022. Since then the numbers have been declining (2024: 1984 hectares) and farmers are quitting. If the conditions do not change, domestic fruit and vegetable cultivation would be at risk.
Waldenberger and Ewald Mayr, chairman of the fruit and vegetable growing association GEO, gave several reasons for this. Firstly, the regulation of plant protection products is particularly strict in Austria; products that are approved in other countries are prohibited. “As a result, the use of manual labor increases and there is a risk of lower yields,” says Waldenberger. Harmonization is needed here.
The wage and ancillary wage costs are high, especially in comparison to Germany: There, the first 70 days are free of ancillary wage costs, which is attractive for employers and employees. This is a disadvantage when looking for seasonal workers.
Image: LKÖÖ
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Image: LKÖÖ
A product test by the Austrian industry association showed that only 26 percent of the goods (out of 92 products) come from Austria. In 65 percent, the origin label was missing.
There is cut-throat competition in the industry that has never been seen before, said Klaus Hraby, managing director of the Eferdinger sour vegetable processor Efko. Own brands, whose share in food retail is increasing, are often produced where it is cheapest. Around half of the quantities consumed annually in Austria are imported: alongside Spain and Italy, Turkey is becoming immensely more important as a producer and processor, and seasonal workers are treated and paid much worse.
“The requirements in Austria are high, there is nothing wrong with that. But the consumer also has to buy the goods,” says Hraby: “And so that customers know what they are using, there needs to be mandatory food labeling.”
