New Players on a Tough Field: Identifying New Entrants to Mountain Farming in the Austrian Alps

Konzett Savina () and Grüner Bernhard ()
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Konzett Savina: Mag. Department of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Austria, 6020 Innsbruck, Innrain 52f
Grüner Bernhard: Mag. Department of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Austria, 6020 Innsbruck, Innrain 52f

European Countryside, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 302-327

Abstract: The pivotal aim of this research is to identify new entrants to mountain farming, their routes into practicing and resulting environmental impacts. Following an actor-network approach, this multi-regional case study was conducted in two remote regions of the Western Austrian Alps and in a bordering Alpine region in South Tyrol (Italy). All data was generated using semi-structured interviews on site and official agricultural statistics. Both autochthons and foreign newcomers to mountain farming display a great deal of idealism to fulfil their agricultural dreams. Their self-determination and bid for independence from the agricultural industry affects their thinking and decisions on housing, farming and collaborations, resulting in far-reaching social and spatial impacts on the sociocultural landscape. In implementing sustainable and extensive farming practices, new entrants act as role models and thus highlight alternatives beyond the prevailing mountain agricultural regime.

Keywords: Mountain farming; New entrants; Newcomers; Tyrol; Socio-technical-network; Eastern Alps; Vorarlberg; East Tyrol; South Tyrol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:eurcou:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:302-327:n:5

DOI: 10.2478/euco-2022-0015

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