at the beginning of the grain harvest in the state of Hesse the Hessian farmers ‘ Association shows that, given the dry spring sceptical in its earnings expectations. Even if the rainfall of the past few weeks would have made a lot betting, they would be eligible for the gedroschene winter barley to late, said the Association’s President Karsten Narrow on Wednesday during the harvest, a call to an operation in Frankfurt. “We expect in the state of Hesse this year at the cereals with a rather below average overall harvest amount, expected to be just above the two million tonnes mark.” The income would have been “significantly”, so Narrow.
The long-lasting spring drought, in conjunction with the late frosts in early may was a major cause of this disappointing result, said Bauer, President. However, there are marked regional differences, depending on the amount of rainfall and the soil quality at the individual locations.
Difficult conditions prevailed for the summer barley, which have especially suffered from the drought after sowing in March. In most malting barley used in the summer, the income would be barley expected to be up to 15 per cent below the previous year’s level. Because while in the long-term mean from March to may an average of 191 litres of precipitation per square metre fell, whether it was in this spring of only 110 liters, so that 42 percent were missing.
More likely, on average, is likely to be wheat, according to the farmers the crop when it comes to winter, which is the most important Cereal crop in the state of Hesse. He takes up about half of the Hessian cereals area – in this year, almost 150,000 hectares. For comparison: winter barley is grown on well-66.000 hectares, summer barley to 17,800 hectares.
extreme Weather conditions, take to
weather extremes have increased in the Wake of climate change, stressed the Narrow. Late frosts, heavy rain and prolonged dry period would have a large impact on plant growth and thus crop yields. “We’re not just idly, we are trying to react to that,” said Narrow, with a view to diversification in the cultivation and the cultivation of drought – and heat-tolerant plants.
“We make little Tweaks,” said Matthias Mehl, head of the on Wednesday visited the operation to the efforts to live with the consequences of climate change. The could hot, a little earlier than before barley, to grow and to bring up to sowing time. He also test about French grain lines, “the climate just a little,” and the hope proved to be in this country as a more resistant.
