Training Concept on Biodiversity

The Austrian Agri-Environmental Programme (ÖPUL), more specifically the measures “EEnvironmentally friendly and biodiversity-promoting management“ and “Organic farming methods“ provide for farmers to receive obligatory further training. In this context, we created educational materials that show clearly how farmers can promote biodiversity on the farm.

Target-group specific training on biodiversity, encompassing interesting and even astounding facts taken from the lives of meadows and fields, can cause admiration for the diversity of life. The resulting broadened perspective leads to minor changes in cultivation methods that might be insignificant to farmers, but are highly significant for particular species.

On behalf of the association thema natur we developed an educational concept for a training workshop of 2 to 3 hours. The main focus lay on showing the diversity of structures in the landscape - from the moist ditch to the field margin rich in umbellifers -, and conveying the importance of these diverse structures for the ecosystem. We made sure the educational content would be communicated playfully: in the form of quizzes, by means of pictures and interactively with the audience's participation.

When introducing the individual habitats, astonishing details of the lives of individual species living there are presented - details which are remembered and, on occasion, retold.

We have prepared a comprehensive training document for the participants. On two days, we presented the concept to training staff of the Education Company of the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture (Ländliches Fortbildungsinstitut).

The training courses have been running successfully all over Austria since 2015.