16th BOKU CAS Autumn Conference

On 16 September 2026, the 16th BOKU CAS Autumn Conference, held under the motto 'Ploughing Together – Towards an Equal and Future-Proof Agriculture!', took place at the Ilse Wallentin House at BOKU. This year's conference was jointly organised by the BOKU Centre for Agricultural Sciences, the Federal Institute for Agricultural and Mountain Farming Research (BAB), the Austrian Society for Agricultural Economics (ÖGA), and the BOKU Institute of Development Studies.

Set against the backdrop of the UN International Year of the Peasant Woman 2026, the conference addressed the theme of an equal and equitable agriculture. The full-day, transdisciplinary programme provided a forum for exchange between academia, policy, and practice. In their opening remarks, Vice-Rector Christoph Pfeifer, Jochen Kantelhardt, Head of the BOKU Centre of Agricultural Sciences, and Martin Schönhart, Director of the Federal Institute for Agricultural and Mountain Farming Research, underscored the timeliness and relevance of the theme. This was followed by two keynote addresses: Zazie von Davier from the Thünen Institute of Farm Economics (DE) spoke on 'The Social and Economic Reality of Women on Farm Holdings', and Stefanie Lemke from the BOKU Institute of Development Studies addressed 'Innovation by Women in Agriculture: The Horizon Europe Project SWIFT'. Both keynotes focused on the role of women in shaping a future-proof agriculture. Three lightning talks by Josef Hambrusch (BAB), Kirstin Eckstein (Austrian Peasants' Union – Via Campesina), and Heidi Leonhardt (BOKU University) rounded off the scientific perspective on the theme.

Following a welcome address by Federal Minister Eva-Maria Holzleitner, Federal Minister for Women, Science and Research, and a midday break, the afternoon programme took an interactive and transdisciplinary turn. After a performance by Verena Frauenlob titled 'The Other Side of Care', Christine Altenbuchner (BOKU University) and Martina Schorn (BAB) moderated a panel discussion under the title 'Who Cares?', exploring the significance of, and the necessary framework conditions for, an equal and future-proof agriculture. The panel featured Michaela Sandmayr (communication trainer at landwort and farmer), Valentina Gutkas (Federal President of the Austrian Young Farmers' Movement), Verena Frauenlob (freelance artist), Reinhard Leutgöb (student at BOKU University), and Zazie von Davier (researcher at the Thünen Institute of Farm Economics).

A warm thank-you to the teams at BOKU CAS and the BOKU Institute of Development Studies, who, in collaboration with BAB and the ÖGA, made this successful event possible.