FPÖ against

Hard gives preference to organic farming

Mayor Martin Staudinger would like to see more organic products.(Bild: Jürgen Radspieler)

More organic food is to be produced in the municipality of Hard in future. However, not everyone agrees with the new regulations on the allocation of agricultural land.

Last Thursday, the Lake Constance municipality of Hard decided to reorganize the leasing of municipal land to farmers. In future, organic farms will be given preference over conventional farms. The municipality will be even stricter when it comes to granting building rights on municipal land for agricultural use; these will only be granted to organic farmers. The new regulation was passed with the votes of the Greens, the SPÖ and the Harder Liste.

Liberals concerned about "discrimination"
The ÖVP and FPÖ were not convinced by the new concept. "We are against the discrimination of farmers in Hard. Conventional farmers make just as important a contribution to our municipality and must continue to have a realistic opportunity in Hard to lease municipal land for agricultural cultivation," said the local blue party leader Sandra Jäckel and her party colleague Johannes Reumiller.

By contrast, Hard's social democratic mayor Martin Staudinger (SPÖ) sees the new regulation as an appropriate promotion of organic food production.