Strengthening food security through small-scale farming and healthy regional food

The project “Strengthening food security through small-scale farming and healthy regional food” is implemented by the Institute of Development Research (IDR) at BOKU University, which investigates agricultural transformation processes at both local and international levels. The project aims to strengthen the resilience of regional food production and supply in Lower Austria so that small-scale farms and market gardens can continue to provide the population with vegetables, herbs, animal products, and alternative protein sources, even under crisis conditions such as supply-chain disruptions, energy price and supply crises, and extreme weather events. The starting points are the reference requirements of households in terms of quantity, diversity, and seasonality, as well as sustainable production and food availability in selected municipalities and regions. Comparing these factors will help identify dependencies, supply gaps, and opportunities for strengthening resilience. Together with municipalities, farms, and citizens, self-sufficiency programmes for households, restaurants, and public institutions will be developed and tested in two Living Labs, one focusing on market gardening combined with hedgerows, and the other on vegetable production with irrigation and hedgerow management, as well as on ten demonstration farms in Lower Austria. A train-the-trainer programme will support the wider application of these approaches beyond the participating municipalities. Through IDR’s international networks, small-scale farms will benefit from knowledge exchange, innovation, and research. Awareness-raising and knowledge transfer will be supported through workshops and field visits, communication activities, multilingual documentation, fact sheets, a best-practice video on the self-sufficiency models, information boards with QR codes, and posters displayed in municipalities and at BOKU. These activities will be complemented by at least one conference contribution, one practice-oriented workshop, and one cooking event for stakeholders in Lower Austria. As the project’s main synthesis, a cause-and-effect model will be developed that links processes, pressures, impacts, and responses across past, present, and future scenarios. The model will connect dietary habits, agricultural management, environmental conditioning, including soil, biodiversity, and water, food supply, and their effects on health, resilience, and regional development. The project will provide recommendations for action to at least 100 direct participants from practice, policy, and research. Its added value for municipalities lies in the development of evidence-based decision-making tools, practical food-supply models, and materials for citizen engagement aimed at strengthening independent regional food self-sufficiency in Lower Austria.