EQS-News: Vienna Soil Dialogue: AGRANA shifts focus to soil as a strategic resource key to Europe’s future

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Vienna Soil Dialogue: AGRANA shifts focus to soil as a strategic resource
key to Europe’s future

24.03.2026 / 11:59 CET/CEST
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Vienna Soil Dialogue: AGRANA shifts focus to soil as a strategic resource
key to Europe’s future

Büttner: “Safeguarding our soil’s productivity in the long term”

 

For the first time ever, the food and industrial group AGRANA has jointly
hosted the VIENNA SOIL DIALOGUE event in collaboration with
Österreichischer Raiffeisenverband, FAS Research and the IIASA
(International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis). This conference
focussed on a question which is rapidly gaining importance in terms of
agriculture, food and supply security as well as Europe’s economic
stability in the light of geopolitical upheaval: What role do healthy
soils play in resilient agriculture and independent production chains?

By means of the Vienna Soil Dialogue conference, AGRANA has created a new
forum which regards the soil not only as the obvious basis for agriculture
but as a strategic resource – for food sovereignty, economic and social
stability, and Europe’s geopolitical strength.

 

AGRANA CEO Stephan Büttner on the motivation behind the Vienna Soil
Dialogue event: “Healthy soils are not an abstract environmental issue,
forming instead the foundation for harvests, quality and security of food
supplies. For AGRANA, as a processor of agricultural commodities,
stability starts in the fields rather than in food processing factories.
Plans to make Europe’s security of supply more robust therefore need to
strengthen its agricultural basis. This also requires that we acknowledge
the status of the farmers who work these soils on a daily basis.
Particularly in times of geopolitical upheaval, as a look at the Strait of
Hormuz for example makes clear, global supply systems have become
extremely vulnerable. That is why it is so important to safeguard our own
commodity basis and, as a result, the productivity of our own agricultural
sector. Predictable harvests, high quality commodities, fair market
conditions and resilient supply chains are the prerequisites for the
entire value chain – from the fields to the processing factories.”

 

President Austrian Raiffeisen Association Erwin Hameseder: “Our soils are
far more than just the production basis for agriculture. Especially in the
new geoeconomic reality prevailing at present, they are the key
precondition for the strategic strength of Austria and Europe as a whole.
Any efforts to safeguard security of supply, reduce dependences and boost
resilience must start with the soil. Resilience doesn’t arise only when
crises appear; it is established long before: with healthy soils, regional
value added and an agricultural sector which is both productive and
sustainable. The cooperative model of the Raiffeisen Group translates this
resilience on site into tangible economic power and dependability for
people and companies.”

 

FAS Research Director Harald Katzmair: “Soil, water and energy are again
at the heart of strategic questions. For us, soil security means the
ability of a society to safeguard its food and industrial basis without
undermining its biological foundations or expose itself to critical
dependencies. Real security arises where we align global networks with the
stability provided by fertile soils.”

 

Brian Fath, Principal Research Scholar at IIASA: “IIASA Statement by
Principal Research Scientist Brian Fath: If we treat soils merely as a
factor of production, we overlook their true ecological function: Soils
are complex, adaptive living systems. Sustainable agriculture does not
arise from maximizing individual outputs, but from the balance of growth,
development, and renewal. This is precisely the ecological basis of soil
health and soil security.”

 

Soil as a strategic resource

In the course of this one-day conference, opinion leaders from the
scientific, research and agriculture communities discussed the following
issues (among others):

• The importance of soils as a strategic resource for food sovereignty
and industrial commodities
• New geopolitical dependencies related to agricultural commodities,
such as fertilisers
• The role of healthy soils in economic stability, climate resilience
and food security

 

Prominent members at evening panel event

The crowning event was an evening panel discussion featuring top
representatives from the spheres of politics, business, the media and
religion. The focus was on the question of how Europe can make its
agricultural sector and food supplies more independent – by means of
strengthening its own production chains, reduced dependency on imports and
healthy soils as the basis for resilience and boosting its appeal as a
place to live and do business. Provincial Governor Lower Austria Johanna
Mikl-Leitner emphasized, “In Lower Austria, we demonstrate that economic
growth and a firm commitment to soil conservation are not contradictory.
We have consciously abandoned old conceptions of more land consumption
automatically meaning more growth. But one thing is also clear: Only
castles in the sky don’t require land. We rely instead on using our land
intelligently:  Abandoned areas have priority over green fields,
cooperation instead of competition and clear regulations for land use.
These are the keys to creating space for companies, jobs, homes and
future-oriented projects while at the same time protecting our best soils
as the basis for value added, agriculture and food security. Therefore we
need to create  space for economic development while also protecting our
most important resource – the soil.” The Austrian Minister of Agriculture
Norbert Totschnig also stressed that “Top-quality soil conservation” is a
central element of food security. Our agricultural sector in Austria
promotes a circular economy and is managed with a regional focus. In order
to safeguard these strengths, we need to maintain and further improve soil
fertility by boosting humus levels, protecting against erosion and
ensuring crop cycle diversity. This is exacting what our agricultural
environment programme focuses on: The participation of 80 % of our farms
makes clear that this has become a role model for sustainable agriculture
and makes an indispensable contribution to soil conservation.”

 

New geoeconomic reality

Through the Vienna Soil Dialogue event, AGRANA has provided a strong input
to the long-term debate about the strategic importance of underlying
agricultural production activities. This makes clear that soil is not only
an environmental or agricultural issue but also a key factor in Europe’s
economic and social resilience.

Current geopolitical developments add a further explosive dimension to
this discussion: The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,
through which around a third of all fertilisers is transported, globally
threatens supplies of important soil nutrients.

 

Caption:

(from left to right): FAS Director Harald Katzmair, AGRANA CEO Stephan
Büttner, Raiffeisen President Austrian Raiffeisen Association Erwin
Hameseder, Lower Austria Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, host Martina
Salomon, Minister of Agriculture Norbert Totschnig, Bishop Alois Schwarz,
ORF correspondent Christian Wehrschütz (image copyright: AGRANA)

 

About AGRANA

AGRANA converts agricultural raw materials into high-quality foods and
numerous industrial intermediate products. Around 9,000 employees working
in its two business divisions, Food & Beverage Solutions and Agricultural
Commodities & Specialities, generate annual Group revenue of approximately
€ 3.5 billion at 50 production facilities worldwide. The Group was founded
in 1988, is the global leader in fruit preparations and a leading
manufacturer (and supplier) worldwide of apple and berry juice
concentrates. AGRANA is the leading sugar company in Central and Eastern
Europe and a major producer of customised potato, corn and wheat starch
products as well as bioethanol.

For queries, please contact:

Markus Simak, Public Relations
+43 1 21137 12084, [1]markus.simak@agrana.com

 

This press release is available at https://www.agrana.com/.

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24.03.2026 CET/CEST This Corporate News was distributed by [2]EQS Group

View original content: [3]EQS News

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Language: English
Company: AGRANA Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft
F.-W.-Raiffeisen-Platz 1
A-1020 Wien
Austria
Phone: +43-1-21137-0
Fax: +43-1-21137-12926
E-mail: investor.relations@agrana.com
Internet: www.agrana.com
ISIN: AT000AGRANA3
WKN: A2NB37
Listed: Regulated Unofficial Market in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich,
Stuttgart, Tradegate BSX; Vienna Stock Exchange (Official
Market)
EQS News ID: 2296804

 
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