Styrian agriculture has been hit hard by the chaos of the rain, with damage amounting to more than four million euros. Hop farmers in particular are worried about their livelihoods.
No, he has never experienced destruction on this scale, Richard Stelzl tells the “Krone”. On Saturday, the South Styrian had to watch as the terrible storms destroyed his entire hop harvest within minutes. “At first we hoped we would be spared, but then the wind changed and the hail came,” says the chairman of the Styrian hop farmers. Almost all of the shoots on his plants were knocked off by the projectiles, which were up to three centimeters long – and all of the other Leutschach hop farmers suffered the same fate. So is the beer country of Styria now threatened with a total loss of the ingredient essential to the brewing process? A total of 80 hectares affected “In our region, almost all of the cultivated areas are affected. Around 80 of a total of 110 hectares were hit. We can only hope that the plants will sprout again and that we can save at least a fraction of the harvest,” hopes Stelzl.Breweries have enough stocksBut at least beer lovers don’t need to worry too much. “Because our breweries have enough stocks for one and a half years. The losses have no effect on the consumer,” explains Gabriele Straka from Brauunion. The South Styrian hops are used for Gösser and Reininghaus’s vintage pilsner – surpluses also end up in Puntigamer and Schwechater, “but that’s unlikely to happen this year,” says Stelzl.The Leutschachers have not been all that spoiled with the harvest in recent years anyway. “It was simply too wet for that. In a good year we’re talking about a total harvest of 200 tons, this year everything has to come together so that it might be 100 tons,” says the South Styrian realistically. Hop farmers are expecting a loss of 800,000 euros this year. The hail insurance company estimates the damage to agriculture as a whole from the storms of the last few days at 4.4 million euros. The floods had catastrophic consequences, especially in eastern and southern Styria.
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