Austrian Protein Strategy.

Protein plants and their ecosystems are an important building block for sustainable agriculture. They contribute to a positive humus and carbon balance and the biological diversity of our agricultural landscape, improve soil fertility and reduce the consumption of nitrogen fertilizers. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism, following to the EU Protein Conference in Vienna in November 2018 is developing the Austrian Protein Plant Strategy with the aim of reduction of dependancy of the EU countries on import of protein plants. For the implementation of this strategy 4 working groups are set up as follow: climate, environment and food (1); Production (2); Value chain, with the subdivision for food and feed (3) and Research and development (4). As to the first working group, the strategy is aiming to improving biodiversity through increased cultivation of protein plants, mitigating the effects of climate change and contributing to adaptation to climate change by using the positive environmental impacts of protein plants and improving the supply of healthy, regional, non-GMO, protein-rich food.
The domestic cultivation of legumes is positive in terms of its impact on the climate while expanding cultivation also leads to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As to the issue of environment, many legume species enrich biodiversity and provide a food resource for insects. Legumes also encourage insects, which can appear directly or indirectly as beneficial insects, such as parasitic wasps. A species-rich ecosystem with a high level of biodiversity thus offers a concrete benefit for the local community in agriculture. The Policy further provides for the nutrition advantages for biological value of legumes, as an indicator of the protein quality in human nutrition or of how well a dietary protein can be converted into endogenous protein. In order to meet the domestic demand for vegetable protein, site-specific breeding and the corresponding variety development are required. Within the framework of the environmental program, it is intended to continue to increase biodiversity in the future.
As to the use of resources, the Policy refers to the continuously optimized recommendations for appropriate fertilization together with regularly carried out soil tests on the farm form a practical guide for an adapted fertilizer management on the farm. In the Chapter related to value chain, the Policy deals with the segments of the supply of domestic vegetable protein for human consumption and feeding as well as the processing to the consumer. The Policy further refers to the importance of the share of the valuable knowledge gained in recent years through advanced research on vegetable protein with agricultural practice. The Policy consists of 7 Sections as follow: Introduction (1); Background (2); Working Group 1: Climate, Environment and Nutrition (3); Working Group 2: Production (4); Working Group 3: Value chain (5); Working Group 4: Research and development (6) and Summary and Conclusion (7).