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| Additional levy for milk | Has to be paid to the Community budget if the total national A- or D-quotas have been exceeded. It amounts to 115 % of the target price for milk. The additional levy has to be paid by milk producers who delivered quantities exceeding their individual quotas; until the total national quota isreached, excess deliveries are compensated (balanced) by unused reference quantities. |
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| Agricultural price index | Cf. Index |
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| Agricultural Structure Survey | This is an important statistical agricultural survey carried out every two or three years. It provides statistical data on the number of holdings, the cultivated area, the distribution and number of animals, and the number of persons working on holdings. It is conducted by Statistics Austria (Statistik Austria). Data also have to be communicated to EUROSTAT, which is responsible for the methodological co-ordination.
The results are evaluated according to the following criteria: Size categories, cultivated area, utilised agricultural area, types of gainful employment, handicap categorys, and main production areas. |
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| Agriculture Agreement | An agreement concluded within the framework of WTO. It has been in force since July 1995 and contains obligations of the industrialised countries to cut export subsidies, to reduce non-tariff trade barriers and obligations concerning a minimum market access as well as rules related to the intra-Community aids in the field of agriculture (See also: CSE and PSE ). By means of this Agreement also agriculture was to a large extent integrated into the rules and regulations of the multilateral rules of world trade. |
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| Agriculture and forestry | As of Austria’s accession to the European Unit ESNA 95 and the EUROSTAT Manual on the Economic Accounts for Agriculture and Forestry (Rev. 1) have been applicable. The economic sector agriculture is taken as the combination of all local kind-of-activity units carrying out the following economic activities:
Growing of crops (including the output of wine and olive oil from grapes and olives produced on the holding), farming of animals, mixed farming, paid agricultural work, and commercial hunting. Its production is from agricultural work and ancillary, non-agricultural activities of agricultural units where these activities cannot be separated from the main agricultural activity. Forestry covers local kind-of-activity units whose characteristic activities comprise forestry and logging related service activities. Agriculture and forestry correspond to the Divisions 01 and 02 of the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community of EUROSTAT (NACE Rev.1); the WTO Agriculture Agreement designates sections 1 to 24 of the harmonised system and a few other produces therein as agricultural products. |
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| Alpine Convention | The Alpine Convention is an international agreement on the protection of the natural area and the promotion of sustainable development in the Alps. On the basis of the outcome of the first Alpine Conference of Environment Ministers held on 9-11 October 1989 in Berchtesgaden the Alpine countries (the Federal Republic of Germany, the French Republic, the Italian Republic, the Slovenian Republic, the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Republic of Austria, the Swiss Confederation) as well as the European Union on 7 November 1991 signed the Convention on the Protection of the Alps. The Convention entered into force on 5 March 1995, after ratification by 3 signatory states. |
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| Alpine pastures | Grassland areas which, for their altitude and the ensuing climatic conditions, are managed as pastures. |
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| AMA | The Austrian Market Organisation AMA is a legal entity under public law according to the Austrian Federal Law Gazette No 376/1992, last amended by Federal Law Gazette No 108/2001. Its most important tasks are:
• Implementation of the common market organisations (milk and milk products, meat, cereals, etc.) as the Austrian Market Organisation, Intervention and Paying Agency;
• Central market and price reporting;
• Measures relating to the quality assurance of agricultural products and promotion of the agricultural marketing;
• Handling of subsidies to the extent this task has been assigned to AMA |
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| AMA bio-control label | In order to make it easier for consumers to buy food from organic farming, AMA-Marketing GesmbH developed the AMA bio-control label. It is subject to stringent quality and monitoring requirements that have been approved by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW). According to the requirements of AMA-Marketing GesmbH the AMA bio-control label can be granted to food complying with the requirements laid down in the general principles of the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus, 3rd edition, Chapter A 8, and Regulation (EEC) no. 2092/91, as amended. |
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| AMA quality label | AMA (Agrarmarkt Austria) grants this label only for products which are characterised by superior quality within the meaning of the Austrian Food Act; they do not need to have been grown and produced in accordance with the criteria of organic farming. There are different guidelines for different criteria. A minimum of 50% of the resources used originate from Austria, sometimes 100%; for some products, integrated farming is obligatory. |
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| Amsterdam Treaty | After the Single European Act (SEA) and the Maastricht Treaty, the Treaty of Amsterdam represents the third in-depth reform of the European Union treaties. After ratification by all 15 Member States, the Treaty entered into force on May 1, 1999. It is made up of three parts. Its most important provisions are:
• Extension of the fields of action of the European Community (first pillar of the EU) as compared to the third pillar of the EU (co-operation in the fields of legislation and interior affairs) and of the so-called Schengen acquis (Schengen Agreement).
• Establishment of an employment committee intended to improve the co-operation and the exchange of information among Member States in order to achieve a high level of employment.
• Incorporation of the Social Agreement (as objected by Great Britain only a [non-binding] protocol annexed to the Maastricht Treaty) into the text of the Treaty. Introduction of qualified majority voting and of the co-decision procedure in some areas of social policy.
• Extension of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The external representation of the European Union is now to be the responsibility of a troika of the respective Presidency of the Council, a representative of the European Commission and the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers) as High Representative for CFSP. Fostering institutional relations between the EU and the Western European Union (WEU). Laying down the possibility for the EU to use the operative capacities of the WEU (e.g. for humanitarian interventions, peacekeeping tasks, or tasks of combat forces in crisis management including peacemaking).
• Enforcing the position of the President of the European Commission by means of his participation in the selection of the Commissioners. Number of Commissioners restricted to 20.
• The fields of competence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the Committee of the Regions (COR) and the Economic and Social Committee (ESC) are extended.
• Enhancing the flexibility of the integration process in order to avoid possible blocking by Member States inhibiting the process of integration. Introduction of a general clause containing the conditions of close co-operation. |
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| Animal assets | All breeding and farm animals are comprised under this item. Animal assets are not subject to depreciation. |
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| Animal Welfare Index | A holistic assessment scheme has been established to measure animal welfare in animal husbandry, the Animal Welfare Index. By means of this index livestock keeping regimes are assessed with respect to the five aspects most important to animals: Space available for moving, stable floor, social contact, controlled environment (including aeration and light), and intensity of care. In these categories up to seven points are allocated (the better in line with animal needs the more). The total number of points represents the Animal Welfare Index. It ranges between 5 and 35. |
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| Annual working unit (AWU) | The working time of persons employed in agriculture is expressed in the form of full-time equivalents, so-called annual work units (AWU). The number of hours on which an AWU is based should correpond to the number actually worked on a full-time employment basis in agriculture (whereas one person cannot represent more than one AWU). Part-time and seasonal work are converted into AWU. The number of hours per full-time employment difffers in the individual EU Member States. In Austria one AWU is presently defined as 2,160 hours/year. |
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| Applicant | Applicants are natural persons and legal entities, married couples and associations of persons managing a farm in their own name and for their own account. |
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| Arable land | Land cultivated regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation (including fallow and set-aside areas). |
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| Balance of payments | Comparison of a state’s total receipts of payment from and outgoing payments to foreign countries within a specific period of time (usually 1 year). According to the relevant international conventions the balance of payments is broken down into the following sub-balances: Current account balance, assignments of property, capital account balance, statisticaldiscrepancy.
The balance of payments provides information on the interpenetration of international markets as well as on the economic trends. |
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| Balance on current account | The comparison of the values of the exports and imports of goods (trade balance) and services recorded during a specific period (usually 1 year); along with the capital account and the foreign exchange balance a part of the balance of payments. |
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| Base unit | The Agricultural Accounts (AA) / Forestry Accounts (FA) are based on the concept of the economic sector (?) and therefore use the local technical unit as base unit for the description of the manufacturing process in agriculture and forestry.
Thereby the AA / FA assume that the agricultural and forestry holding, which is currently based as survey unit at statistical agricultural surveys, represents the most suitable local technical unit for the industries agriculture and forestry (although these two industries comprise also certain other units like vintage cooperatives and units doing contract work). |
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| Basic price | Production is valued at “basic prices”. In the Economic Accounts for Agriculture/Forestry Manual the basic price is defined as the price which the producer receives, after deduction of the taxes payable on the commodities produced or sold (that is, without taxes on products), but including all subsidies granted for the commodities produced or sold (that is, including subsidies on products). |
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| Biodiversity | Cf. Biological diversity. |
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| Biological diversity | Biological diversity is also referred to as biodiversity or species diversity. Biological diversity has been defined as the variability of all living organisms, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic systems and the ecological complexes of which they are part. This includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems. |
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| Block parcel | Field plots are clearly delimitable and naturally identifiable management units with only one type of land use (e.g. field, meadow, etc.). A field plot can consist of one or several plots of land/ or parts thereof. The area of the block parcel results from the total sum of plots of land having a share in it. |
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| BST (Bovine Somatotropine) | The bovine somatotropine – also referred to as bovine growth hormone - is a peptide hormone of approximately 190 amino acids. It is a vital substance produced by the pituitary gland which shows maximum biological effectiveness in cattle (ineffective in humans and pigs), because its structure differs from species to species. Although multiple effects are known, the interest in the hormone is mainly in its stimulating influence on growth and dairy performance. Its industrial production is based on genetically modified bacteria. |
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| Cairns Group | The Cairns Group is an informal, loose association of agricultural export nations led by Australia. The objective of the Cairns Group is to promote the liberalisation of the international agricultural trade, with the focus on the reduction of export subsidies. The countries of the Cairns Group produce one fifth of the world’s total agricultural exports. The members of the Group are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Fiji, Indonesia, Canada, Colombia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay. |
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