Vienna [Austria], November 12: A new study reveals a drastic decline in Austria’s fruit farming sector, showing a sharp reduction in fruit-bearing trees and cultivated areas over the past century. The Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce and the Federal Association for Fruit Farming report that the number of fruit trees—such as apples, pears, and cherries—has plummeted from 35 million in 1930 to only 4.2 million in 2020.
According to the study, extreme weather events attributed to climate change—such as winter frosts, intense summer heat, water shortages, droughts, and frequent thunderstorms with heavy rain—are taking a toll on agricultural productivity. The data from Austria’s 2023 Agricultural Structure Survey highlights a 14 percent decline in the country’s total fruit-growing area from 2017 to 2023, with the hardest-hit crops including apples, apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, and strawberries.
The study cautions that a temperature rise of 2-3 degrees Celsius could lead to profound and potentially irreversible impacts on Austria’s traditional fruit farming, threatening the viability of established cultivation methods in the country.
