Tabakanbau#

Tobacco Cultivation: From ca. 1570 onwards, tobacco was cultivated in Austria for medicinal purposes. Commercial cultivation of tobacco in Upper Austria (Enns) and Lower Austria (Neumarkt an der Ybbs) started later and was initially successful (from 1652-1716), but the monopolisation of tobacco sales as well as taxation and imports considerably reduced the attractiveness of tobacco cultivation. In Styria, tobacco cultivation began in 1670 (in Wildon and Mureck) on a small scale, which developed into intensive growing (in Fuerstenfeld, Feldbach, Fehring) around 1694. However, large-scale tobacco production was hindered by the Estates, who feared soil depletion, by the competition of higher-quality tobacco from Hungary, and government intervention (1680, 1st ban on tobacco cultivation). Thus, tobacco cultivation progressively declined until, by 1825, it was completely abandoned in the eastern part of Austria. The 1st tobacco factory, founded in 1722 at Hainburg, brought about a short-term upswing. In Vorarlberg, tobacco was cultivated from the mid-18th century to about 1835 (Frastanz). Some efforts to revive tobacco cultivation in Austria were made at the end of the 19th century and between 1918 and 1939, but they did not prove successful until after 1945. As of 1994, 190.12 hectares were being cultivated by 184 farmers, of which 122.05 hectares in Styria (district of Fuerstenfeld), 35.6 hectares in Lower Austria (district of Hollabrunn), 25.17 hectares in Burgenland (district of Oberpullendorf) and 7.30 hectares in Upper Austria. 393 tons of tobacco were harvested in 1993, which equals 3 % of the total amount of tobacco processed in Austria. Austria Tabak no longer processes tobacco leaves but uses tobacco cultivated and fermented by the Vereinigung oesterreichischer Tabakpflanzer (Austrian Tobacco Growers´ Federation).