Germany’s vegetable farmers had a significantly weaker harvest last year than in 2021. Around 6,100 farms harvested around 3.8 million tons of vegetables, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday.
That was twelve percent less than in 2021 and two percent less than the average for the years 2016 to 2021. According to the information, the reasons for the falling numbers were heat and drought. In addition, the acreage was four percent less than in 2021. In that year, a maximum of 4.3 million tons of vegetables was reached.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, organic farms produced around 431,000 tons of vegetables on a good 17,800 hectares. After a steady increase since the first survey in 2012, the organic area under cultivation in Germany fell for the first time – by four percent compared to 2021. The harvest volume fell by ten percent. The proportion of the harvest from organic cultivation areas remained unchanged at eleven percent.
According to the information, the type of vegetable with the largest harvest in Germany was carrots with 780,500 tons. However, the 2022 harvest was 19 percent worse than the year before. Carrots were followed by onions (578,200 tons) with a decrease of 13 percent and white cabbage (384,700 tons) with a minus of 12 percent.
Last year, vegetables were grown outdoors on 125,200 hectares, the Federal Statistical Office said. The largest areas were in North Rhine-Westphalia with 28,700 hectares, in Lower Saxony with 21,900 hectares, in Rhineland-Palatinate with 16,000 hectares and in Bavaria with 15,800 hectares.
