Project Dates

Start: 2011

The Story

With the campaign “Stop land use – soilless makes breadless, futureless, unemployed…” in radio, print, online and social media, the Österreichische Hagelversicherung (Austrian hail insurance) draws attention to the high Level of soil sealing in Austria.

Austria is European champion: on average over the past 10 years, 20 hectares of agricultural land or the equivalent of 30 soccer fields have been taken out of production every day. At the same time, Austria has the highest supermarket density and one of the densest street networks in Europe.

The massive obstruction has negative impacts on biodiversity, drought and flood damage are increasing. Domestic food supply is endangered by the loss of its production base and 500,000 sustainable Austrian jobs in agriculture are at risk.

Moreover, the Austrian Landscape is changed – the result: tourism suffers. Österreichische Hagelversicherung has been communicating this for a long time, showing solutions by experts and creating general awareness of land use in Austria.

Success Factor | Hero Moment

The Österreichische Hagelversicherung launched the campaign to protect domestic soils in 2011 with a daily area requirement of about 25 hectares. Since then, there has been a steady decrease in daily land use. In 2024, it was 12 hectares per day (about 16 soccer fields). Numerous prominent opinion Leaders from business, science, media and culture support the campaign (e.g. Monika Langthaler, Tobias Moretti, Franz Welser-Möst, Markus Hengstschläger, Christa Kummer).

Submitter

Österreichische Hagelversicherung VVaG