Erfurt (dpa/th) – Thuringia’s farmers harvested 2,900 tons less vegetables in the field last year. This corresponds to a decrease of 18 percent compared to 2021, as the State Statistics Office announced on Thursday. The area under cultivation also decreased – by 683 hectares to a total of 13,590 hectares. The decline in outdoor vegetable cultivation in Bavaria is not an exceptional phenomenon. According to the statisticians, the area under cultivation has decreased by more than a quarter since 2016.
Data shows that last year, asparagus was the top vegetable grown outdoors, followed by onions, cabbage and cauliflower. Many types of cabbage and asparagus are “heavy feeders” that have a high nutrient requirement. In the Free State, the Erfurt Basin in particular is considered to be fertile. Vegetable cultivation has a long tradition in Thuringia. A type of cauliflower is also named after the state capital of Erfurt.
According to the State Statistical Office, vegetable growing suffered from drought again last year. This had a particular impact on the yields of the cauliflower and onion harvest. The farmers also harvested a little less asparagus. They cut about 0.3 tons less of the precious vegetable per hectare than in 2021.
The difference was clearer with cauliflower: last year, vegetable farmers harvested more than a third less per hectare than in 2021. The harvest amounted to 615 tons. Compared to the previous year, this meant a decrease of 526 tons.
Onion cultivation also suffered. While farmers harvested 4487 tons in 2021, it was only 1877 tons last year. The yield per hectare fell to 18 tons – 21 tons less than in the previous year.
