Blog

2026 / 05

IN-SITU final conference in Valmiera, Latvia

The final conference of the IN SITU project took place from 11 to 13 May 2026 in Valmiera, Latvia. Approaches to rural development were discussed under the conference theme “Culture Matters Here. Cultivating Creative Place-based Innovation in Non-urban Communities”. Referring to concrete case studies from the arts and culture sector, potentials, experiences and insights regarding the revitalisation of villages in various regions of Europe were demonstrated (see IN SITU conference guide...

2026 / 04

Participation in the 100th Conference of the Agricultural Economics Society

From 23 to 25 March, the annual conference of the British Agricultural Economics Society (AES) took place at the University of Oxford, coinciding with the celebration of the Society’s 100th anniversary https://aes.ac.uk/annual-conference. Around 300 participants from academia, administration, policymaking, practice, and interest groups used the conference as an opportunity to discuss current issues in agricultural economics and to exchange ideas, methods, and research findings. The plenary...

That was the Long Night of Research 2026

On April 24, 2026, the Long Night of Research 2026 took place across Austria. In Vienna, visitors could admire and discover over 700 program items at more than 60 locations. Vienna's universities, universities of applied sciences, educational and research institutions, as well as research-oriented companies, offered a diverse program. Agricultural research was the focus at the Palmenhaus in the Burggarten. For the second time, the BAB participated as an exhibitor, addressing the questions...

FOSSGIS conference 2026 in Göttingen

From 25 to 28 March 2026, the annual Conference for Free and Open Source Software for Geographic Information Systems took place. Other key themes of the conference included Open Data and OpenStreetMap. This year's venue, Göttingen, saw a record number of 1,000 participants. Nevertheless, as is customary, it remained possible to hold professional discussions in a pleasant atmosphere—accessible and on equal footing—as well as to explore specific questions in depth during workshops. While...

Nexrur Meeting in Burgos: Innovation, exchange and new perspectives for rural business models

From 14 to 17 April 2026, the NEXRUR consortium met in Burgos (Spain) to collaborate on innovative approaches for sustainable, community-led business models in rural areas. The host was the University of Burgos, which had organised a diverse and intensive programme. Representing the BAB were Katrin Hofer (BAB Project) and Oliver Tamme. They were joined by Markus Herndl from the FoodCoop "S’Gartl" Windischgarsten, who provided valuable practical insights from on-the-ground implementation as...

Final report Making Bureaucracy Accesible

As part of Vision 2028+, it became evident that farmers across all types of farms find the growing administrative requirements increasingly challenging. Against this backdrop, the research project “Making Bureaucracy Accessible” aimed to examine which specific requirements farmers in Austria must meet, which institutions impose them, how much time they take, and which aspects farmers perceive as particularly burdensome or helpful. The study provides both theoretical and practical...

2026 / 02

Quantification and Monetization of Ecosystem Services in Agriculture & Forestry – Workshop Results

The central task of agriculture and forestry is the provision of food and renewable raw materials. The targeted production of these provisioning ecosystem services (PES) also influences other regulating and cultural PES both within and outside of agricultural and forestry land-use systems. Political instruments, such as agri-environmental programs, are used to internalize these external effects. Their dominant form compensates for the costs of providing positive effects, but provides little...

iCROPM 2026 conference

The BAB was represented at the iCROPM 2026 conference (Crop Modeling for Agriculture and Food Security under Global Change – https://icropm2026.org/) with a talk and a poster. iCROPM regularly brings together the international research community in crop modeling to discuss advances, strengthen collaborations, and further develop the field. This year, the focus was on scientific innovations, methodological advancements, and interdisciplinary approaches to improve the accuracy and relevance...

2026 / 03

BIOECO-UP: BIOEAST meeting on 26 February 2026, and final conference on 13 March 2026

To support the use and exploitation of project results after project closure, BIOECO-UP is currently organising dissemination and networking activities particularly in the geographical region of Central and Eastern Europe (BIOECO-UP project: AT, CZ, IT, HR, HU, PL, SI, SK; BIOEAST Initiative: BG, CZ, EE, HR, HU, LT, LV, PL, RO, SI, SK). In a joint BIOECO-UP-BIOEAST meeting (26.02.2026, online), the Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research (BAB) presented...

First GRACE Stakeholder Meeting in the Bucklige Welt – Wechselland

On 24 February 2026, the first stakeholder meeting in the Bucklige Welt – Wechselland region took place within the framework of the GRACE-project. The objective of the event was to bring together key regional actors, present the current status of the project, and jointly discuss core topics. Following a brief round of introductions, participants received an overview of the project’s objectives, methodological approach, and upcoming steps. Particular emphasis was placed on the role of the...

2025 / 11

RUSTIK Project Meeting in Cheltenham, UK

From 17 to 20 November 2025, the fifth consortium meeting of the EU Horizon project RUSTIK took place in Cheltenham, UK. RUSTIK aims to improve the understanding of rural transformation across Europe and to identify new pathways toward more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive rural regions. BAB was represented on site by Ingrid Machold, Karin Schroll, and Daria Ernst At the heart of the project meeting were two intensive days during which four thematic workshops took place, all of which...

Global Webinar: GAN Definitions Committee presents and discusses their work

On November 18, 2025, the Global Agritourism Network (GAN) hosted an international webinar entitled “A Wor(l)d of Agritourism: Definitions and Values Identified by the Global Agritourism Network.” The goal was to introduce a globally harmonized framework for defining agritourism that serves as guidance for practice, research, and policy worldwide. Over 90 participants attended. After an introduction by Lisa Chase, Carla Barbieri and Erika Quendler presented the key work of the GAN...

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