After weeks of drought in spring, farmers in many places in Germany are worried about their crop yields. “It will definitely not be a good grain harvest,” said Farmer’s President Joachim Rukwied of the German Press Agency before the German Farmers’ Day next week in Münster. The recent rainfall has eased the situation in some places. At some other locations, however, there is already irreparable damage.
“We still hope that we will come towards an average harvest nationwide,” said Rukwied. “However, there will be significant lower yields at individual locations.” In many areas it didn’t rain for a period of four to six weeks between the end of April and mid-June – almost everywhere in Germany. “In this respect, there was a significant lack of water in the upper soil layers in many places.”
It is important for the grain that there is now, where there has been little rain, an area-wide rain so that the grains can develop. “In particular, autumn crops such as sugar beets, corn, vegetables, fruit and potatoes now need rainfall in summer,” explained the farmer president.
