Evaluation of agricultural priority zones in regional development programs of Styria

Agricultural priority zones are a central part of regional development programms in Styria. They are zoned aiming the protection of various spatial functions of agriculture. Agricultural priority zones therefore have to be kept free from land uses endangering the zoning purpose (especially zoning of building land). For the assessment of agricultural qualities as a basis for zoning a GIS based model is implemented in Styria. Until now soil quality was not integrated into this assessment model because of area wide data lacking. Soil quality information is now available in a digital formate. Subject of this project the integration of soil quality data into the existing GIS model as well as an evaluation of the effects on the new agricultural priority zones using two test regions in Styria.