Grains, potatoes, fruit
Farmers in danger: Floods threaten harvests and livelihoods
07.06.2024, 07:18 a.m.
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2024 is not a good year for farmers. First, the abolition of two subsidies has them furious – and on the streets. Now farmers in southern Germany are also worried about their harvest due to the floods. Bavaria will help them, but the money is just a drop in the ocean.
The flood has ruined the harvest of many farmers. “The masses of water have often destroyed large parts of this year’s harvest,” said Markus Drexler, spokesman for the Bavarian Farmers’ Association (BBV). The situation is particularly bad in Swabia and parts of Upper and Lower Bavaria. “The damage to agricultural crops such as grain, beets, potatoes and corn, but also to specialty crops such as field vegetables, strawberries and raspberries, has reached a level that cannot yet be quantified in figures.” There are farms where the entire area has been under water for days.
If young potato or corn plants are under water for several days, they die and rot. “Meadows and grain that have been flattened by the water masses can in most cases no longer be saved or are contaminated,” said Drexler.
In addition, stables in the flood areas had to be evacuated in recent days. In most cases, farmers had coordinated with each other and were able to use alternative stables, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture in Munich.
Pollutants washed onto the fields?
Damage to arable land depends on whether, for example, pollutants have been washed onto the fields, he added, but also offered hope: Damaged corn fields could possibly be re-sown. “For the further care of the crops, it is crucial that the areas are soon accessible to traffic, which depends on the course of further rainfall. The loss of yield can only be estimated once the water has completely receded.”
The state government wants to provide at least 100 million euros for those affected by the flood disaster. In a letter to Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber of the CSU, BBV General Secretary Carl von Butler stressed that in individual cases, businesses may be significantly affected, “in some cases to the point of endangering their existence.”
The association is grateful for the promised aid, but it is not nearly enough for many companies, added Drexler. It would be desirable that in particularly badly affected individual cases, help could be provided beyond the planned limit.
Farmers in relief effort
Insurance coverage for crops is a complex issue. In Bavaria, there is a funding program for multi-risk insurance (MGV) for agricultural crops. According to the ministry, the insurance helps with the consequences of heavy rain, for example. Floods that are not caused by direct rain on the land, but by stream flooding, for example, are not included. According to the insurance industry, flooding of agricultural land is not insurable and therefore cannot be included in the MGV funding in the future, the ministry further announced.
At the same time, both the association and the ministry thanked the farmers who helped combat the floods. In many places, farmers are in action with their equipment and machines.