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Agricultural communities in Styria, 2021
Video: studio-lou.at
Narrators: Martin Strobl (Technical Director of the Agricultural District Authority for Styria) Otto Siebenhofer (Deputy chairman of the Krakaudorfer Gemeindeberg agricultural community), Leo Kühberger

Bildunterschrift

Especially in agriculture, the communal use of resources has a long tradition. In many areas these traditional rights of use still exist today. The ‘agricultural communities’ of Austria are special purpose groups that jointly manage and use certain properties on the basis of old documents or old practice, and were created during the 19th and 20th centuries. More than 10,000 members of 520 agricultural communities manage an area of about 75,000 hectares. Particularly in Upper Styria, many mountain pastures and forests have been jointly managed by local farmers for generations. This demonstrates that forms of common property do have a future and are of great importance to societal life. The agricultural district authority of the region, which is responsible for land reform agendas, also oversees and supports the agricultural communities.

With thanks to Sepp Theurer