Agrarmarkt Austria (AMA) is a legal entity under public law operating since 1993. AMA is the Austrian Market Organisation and Paying Agency for Agriculture and Rural Development in compliance with EU-regulations. Its main tasks are:
- Implementation of Common Market Organisations
- Market and price reporting
- As certified Paying Agency for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), AMA is responsible for the managing of expenditure for all Direct Payments (1st pillar) and payments for Rural Development (2nd pillar), preparation of documents and online tools for application procedures (application forms, leaflets), execution of the payments after having verified the compliance with the regulations, organisation and implementation of on-the-spot controls
- Managing the cattle tracing system and administration of the national database for bovine animals
- The tasks of agricultural marketing are carried out by the subsidiary Agrarmarkt Austria Marketing GesmbH
AMA acts under the supervision of the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management and sees itself as a service agency.
On the one hand AMA processes data from the primary sector (agriculture), in particular area data and numbers of animals from all Austrian farmers who apply for subsidies. On the other hand, according to the implementation of the Market Organisation Act, AMA collects information about purchases and prices from companies working at the first processing level of the secondary sector (mills, dairies, slaughterhouses). This is used for market and price reporting. Additional data are taken into account e.g. EU data as well as notable stock exchange quotations in order to get references and comparisons. AMA prepares balance sheets for the European Commission and publishes specific market reports on the most important agricultural products and means of production.
Furthermore AMA is experienced in the following areas relevant in the case of a crisis (management of stocks):
- Execution of intervention and private storage
- Management of storage (purchase, proper storage, sale or distribution)
- Handling food aid from intervention stocks for people in need in the Union
- Implementation of EU and national based aid measures
The Austrian Federal Law on directive measures to ensure the food production and food supply (Lebensmittelbewirtschaftungsgesetz 1997) provides measures for securing food supply in emergency situations (shortage that is not seasonal and cannot be solved through the market) in Austria. Agrarmarkt Austria may be assigned with this task by the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management.
Due to its function and its structure (headquarters and regional offices in the provinces), the contacts to interest groups and others in the agricultural business, the mills, dairies etc., AMA is perfectly prepared to play an essential role in food security, especially in the operational sector.