BILLA Foundation Blühendes Österreich: Saving 2,000 square kilometres of meadow orchards in the Mostviertel region

The cider pear is at home in meadow orchards, where it prefers to take root in the soil. For centuries, meadow orchards have shaped the landscape of the gently hilly Mostviertel region, providing food and refuge for thousands of animal and plant species. But the glory days are over, because the diversity of cider pears with high trunk culture and the orchard stand are highly endangered.

The LEADER Region Moststraße therefore launched an urgently needed project to preserve the orchard culture and the old pear varieties that are threatened with extinction. The project is being implemented in cooperation with the province of Lower Austria, the BILLA Foundation Blühendes Österreich and the landowners. 

"Orchard meadows shape the image of our homeland, which we appreciate and love so much. We also want to protect and preserve this," emphasises Stephan Pernkopf, Deputy Provincial Governor of Lower Austria. "I am therefore very pleased that our diversity of varieties and the awareness of the cultural landscape are being strengthened with projects such as that of the LEADER region Moststraße," says Pernkopf, who also launched the campaign "We for Bees". "Fruit trees are also an important habitat for our bees." 

Saving mother trees to preserve valuable "Gardens of Eden" 

The nature conservation project heralded a regional turnaround in the endangered biotope of meadow orchards. The old cultivated landscapes are a hotspot of biodiversity and attract a variety of wild bees, butterflies, bats and birds such as redstarts, greenwings and long-eared owls. "Through our initiative, we preserve our landscape, traditional cultivation methods and rare pear varieties such as grey pears and Schöberl pears. Mother trees of pear rarities, but also of apple rarities, are specifically cultivated and at least 100 new young mother trees are grown and planted out. Through genetic analyses, we are also scientifically illuminating and identifying the rarities," Mathias Weis, biologist and project manager of the LEADER Region Tourismusverband Moststraße, explains the project. 

Member of the Landtag Michaela Hinterholzer, Chairwoman of the LEADER Region Tourismusverband Moststraße and Mayor of Oed-Öhling, adds: "The old cultural landscapes are of great importance both agriculturally and in terms of climate protection. In addition, they are an important visitor magnet."  

"As a representative of our community, I am very pleased about this joint cooperation. It serves to preserve our traditional fruit tree cultures, supports our farmers and makes an important contribution to our local image," says Maria Kogler, Mayor of Neuhofen an der Ybbs, enthusiastically about the initiative. 

Worldwide unique cider pear stock in danger 

The strong character of the cider pear is unique in its variety worldwide and its processing into delicious cider has a long tradition in the region. However, due to the labour-intensive care and harvesting of meadow orchards, the cider pear is an endangered fruit variety in Austria. "Orchard meadows are acutely endangered. Before 1960, there were still about 35 million large-crowned fruit trees in the Austrian landscape. Today there are only less than 4 million trees left and the decline continues. For this reason, ARGE Streuobst, together with the Umweltdachverband, has launched the first European Day of the Orchard Meadow to raise awareness for orchard meadows. There is no more beautiful bouquet of flowers than a flowering orchard tree," says Hans Hartl, chairman of ARGE Streuobst. 

For this reason, the nature conservation project is also working with pomologists and molecular biology laboratories to clearly determine the diversity of varieties and thus professionally preserve it. "Such extensive genetic fingerprinting of pear varieties was carried out here in the Mostviertel for the first time in Austria. The results thus serve as a reference for further investigations. With this project, the LEADER Region Mostviertel is playing a pioneering role in genetic-pomological research and basic surveys, especially for cider pears," reports pomologist Martina Schmidthaler. The current cider pear population is also supported by the planting of rarities. "Preserving rarities also means bringing varieties that have not been in the nursery assortment for a long time, or never before, back to the farms and orchards with young trees. For this purpose, mother trees are mapped in the current project. They are entered in orthophotos on site, given numbered tree tags, photographed and their approximate age and condition recorded. If the growth is suitable, we take scions, which are one-year-old shoots, and graft them," explains pomologist Gerlinde Handlechner.

The meadow orchard goes to school 

In addition to the targeted care and propagation measures of the pear trees, cross-generational awareness is also created in the population for the regional characteristics of the orchard meadows and their importance for biodiversity. "In nature education workshops and school projects, we establish a connection to nature and the production of regional foodstuffs among schoolchildren and people from the region. A special highlight are the variety identification days in early autumn, where the population has the unique opportunity to hand in rare fruit varieties and rarities from their home gardens and orchards for identification. This way, new old varieties can be found," Maria Ettlinger, managing director of the LEADER Region Tourismusverband Moststraße, summarises the other milestones of the project. 

"For BILLA, the species-rich habitats of meadow orchards as well as the preservation of regional food and the corresponding traditionally sustainable cultivation are a matter of concern. For this reason, we support this project through our Blühendes Österreich foundation," says Tanja Dietrich-Hübner, Head of Sustainability at REWE International AG. 

"For me, our joint initiative is a best practice example of successful cooperation between the public sector, agriculture, the private sector and science," Ronald Würflinger, Head of the Blühendes Österreich Foundation, emphasises in conclusion. 

About the LEADER Region Tourismusverband Moststraße 

The LEADER Region Tourismusverband Moststraße comprises 31 municipalities and 120 member enterprises and implements numerous projects for the promotion of rural areas within the framework of the current LEADER funding period. The main focus of the projects is on the preservation and further development of the cultural heritage of meadow orchards and the cultural landscape in this region. On the other hand, the region implements projects in the field of enjoyment and culinary offers in order to raise awareness of the regional cultural landscape among the population and in tourism. www.gockl.at

About Blühendes Österreich 

The BILLA Foundation Blühendes Österreich works with BirdLife Austria for a healthy environment and sustainable agriculture. Therefore, since 2015, Blühendes Österreich has supported more than 200 farmers, nature conservation organisations, municipalities and initiatives that protect our natural diversity through responsible agriculture. The website bluehendesoesterreich.at is the strongest digital platform for nature tourism and nature content. In the nature experience portal, Blühendes Österreich bundles more than 90 organisations with thousands of nature events per year. The citizen science app "Schmetterlinge Österreichs" (Butterflies of Austria) is the largest nature observation app in the German-speaking region with more than 44,000 downloads and the accompanying desktop version. www.bluehendesoesterreich.at

Enquiries & contact 

Silvie Bergant, Head of Communication Blühendes Österreich
+43 676 711 74 50
s.bergant@bluehendesoesterreich.at

Theresa Jell, MA, LEADER-Region Tourismusverband Moststraße
+43 650 470 23 00
presse@moststrasse.at