Growth and Employment Effects of the Rural Development Programme for 2007-2013

The Austrian Rural Development Programme for 2007-2013 delivered 1.1 billion € a year from 2007 in funding targeted at improving net output, employment as well as the environmental situation and quality of life. The EU financed 52 percent of the funds, with the rest added by the Austrian federal and state governments. Beneficiaries were primarily agriculture and forestry. Funding was also received by businesses and commercial operations in the organic-food-based value-added chain and regional initiatives of rural communities. Model analyses highlight the many impacts of the programme on the economy. The value added by the funding amounted to 1.6 billion €, associated with 30,300 jobs. The growth was not limited to rural regions but rather significantly strengthened growth and employment in the urban regions as well. Without the programme, nitrogen surpluses and emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture would have been higher by 16 percent and 3 percent respectively. The programme prevented 11 percent of the agriculturally used land from being taken from production.