Gas prioritization required: drought in the fields – farmers expect a poor harvest

Gas prioritization required
Drought in the field – farmers expect a poor harvest

Dry soils and insufficient rainfall will be clearly reflected in farmers’ yields. As in the previous year, the farmers are expecting a lower harvest volume. With a view to the debate about gas deliveries, they are demanding preferential treatment.

Farmers are expecting a below-average harvest this summer – with regional differences. “All in all, it is too dry in many parts of Germany. Ultimately, this also means that we will have a smaller harvest for the second year in a row,” said the President of the German Farmers’ Association (DBV), Joachim Rukwied, at the start of the harvest in Dahme/Brandenburg. Mark.

According to him, the DBV expects a grain harvest of around 41.2 million tons. The forecasts are three percent below the previous year’s result. It was 42.3 million tons. Harvest yields from 2015 to 2020 were even higher, averaging 44.2 million tons.

In large parts of the country, less rain fell than usual, and the water reserves in the ground are still far too low. Contrary to the trend, some farms also expected a good harvest, said Rukwied. The further course of the weather in the summer months is decisive for the autumn crops. The prospects are “another piece of the jigsaw puzzle of negative events,” said Rukwied, referring to the lower crop yields forecast in Europe and internationally important growing regions such as the USA. The food situation is tense globally, also because of the energy crisis.

The farmers’ president was concerned about the political decision by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck to declare the second alarm level for gas. Agriculture in particular is dependent on gas as the main source of energy. “We need gas for the production of nitrogen fertilizer.” If this is missing, the crop yields would collapse significantly, the farm president warned. Yields could drop to as much as 40 percent. He called for gas to be prioritized for the entire food sector.

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