THE FOUR MONITORINGS

Farmers observe biodiversity

 With four nature conservation monitoring programmes in ÖPUL 2023, farmers are actively involved in the protection of nature and biodiversity. The observations contribute to identifying the effects of the Austrian Agricultural Environmental Programme (ÖPUL) on the occurrence of certain animal and plant species and support the documentation of climatic and phenological changes. There are annual premiums for each monitoring programme. In order to participate in the monitoring programmes, farmers need to apply and take part in a subsequent training course.

	BIODIVERSITY MONITORING Biodiversity monitoring makes an important contribution to the preservation of biodiversity on extensive meadows, mountain pastures and biodiversity areas in arable land and grassland. It helps to identify the right farming methods and contributes to the long-term optimisation of ÖPUL management requirements. Farms, nature conservation and science all benefit from the results.		PHÄNOFLEX The Phänoflex  nature conservation monitoring programme observes the development of orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata) and black elder (Sambucus nigra) at the farm. This creates a map for Austria that thousands of farms can use to flexibly adapt the prescribed cutting times to the annual natural development. In addition, the data obtained helps climate research.
	CUTTING TIME ACCORDING TO PHENOLOGY As p art of the nature conservation monitoring programme "Cutting time according to phenology" in the Austrian states of Salzburg and Styria, the flowering development of indicator plants is observed and the prescribed cutting time is flexibly adjusted area by area according to an agreed flowering phase.		OBSERVATION OF THE GREAT BUSTARD The  observation of the Great Bustard focuses on the birds themselves as well as the cultures and management times on the bustard conservation areas in the project areas in Lower Austria and Burgenland are documented. This data represents an important basis for successful conservation efforts for the Great Bustard in Austria