BETWEEN SMALLHOLDER TRADITIONS AND ECOLOGICAL MODERNISATION - AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION, LANDSCAPE CHANGE AND THE CAP IN AUSTRIA 1995-2015

The paper explores transformations in agriculture during the period 1995-2015 and shows their impact on rural landscapes in the case of Austria. When Austria joined the European Union in 1995, this meant a minor gash in agricultural politics, from broad support of smallholder agriculture to a programme of modernisation and rationalisation. Austrian politicians defined this shift as a process of ecological modernisation (Fischler et al. 1994), incorporating agri-environmental schemes as instruments and modifying existing programmes of direct payments. The survey forms the groundwork for a discussion on landscape effects of the CAP as an ecological modernisation programme and possible impact of the CAP-reform 2020.