Heavy rainfall is endangering the harvest in Germany, Joachim Rukwied, chairman of the German Farmers’ Association, said on Monday.
The grain harvest is expected to reach 42 million tonnes, slightly less than last year, Rukwied explained during a visit to a farm in Frankfurt.
According to him, the heat and humidity promoted rotting of the potato crop, which could lead to crop failure due to a lack of pesticides.
Rukwied said pesticides were needed given the flooding and waterlogging. “Combined with rising temperatures, the risk of fungal infections in many crops is increasing significantly,” he added.
Farmers needed a wide range of resources to maintain plant resistance, while fewer pesticides and agricultural substances were available in Germany, Rukwied said.
Wet autumn conditions negatively impacted the sowing plans of many low-lying farmers, resulting in a reduction in the areas planted with winter wheat and oilseed rape.
Sowing was often postponed until spring, causing the area sown with spring wheat to almost triple to 100,000 hectares.
However, winter wheat remains by far the most important cereal crop in Germany with 2.6 million hectares sown, followed by winter barley with 1.3 million hectares.
According to the German statistics office Destatis, this year’s cherry harvest of 41,400 tonnes is 900 tonnes higher than last year, but 6,200 tonnes lower than the long-term average.
In the north of the country, late frost during the flowering period was the cause in some areas, while yields in the southwest are expected to increase sharply, Destatis said.
Sweet cherry production is increasing, while sour cherry production is decreasing. The sour cherry harvest is estimated at 7,300 tons, the lowest level in a decade. About 80% of the harvest consists of sweet cherries and 20% of sour cherries.
German cherry consumption is also falling, with per capita consumption between April 2022 and March 2023 at 1.7 kilograms, down 21 percent from the previous year, the national agricultural and food authority reported on Friday. The figures include both fresh and processed fruit.
Last year, Germany consumed 144,000 tonnes of cherries, down from 182,000 tonnes in 2022, with the main foreign source for fresh cherries being Turkey with around 20,000 tonnes. The main source for processed cherries was Hungary with 26,800 tonnes.
