2023-11-24 10:53:05
Climate change and the associated freak weather are putting local farmers under increasing pressure. Due to the difficult weather conditions, the harvest volumes of potatoes, for example, were lower this year than last year. Added to this is the tense cost situation. “Austria’s self-sufficiency in key foods such as potatoes is now clearly at risk,” warns Chamber of Agriculture President Josef Moosbrugger.
The comparatively cool and rainy phase in April and May led to problems with sowing and germination for summer crops such as corn, the Chamber of Agriculture told the APA. Added to this was the heat phase in June and July, which also made the development of some plant species more difficult.
Potato production in particular suffered. A good 528,000 tons were harvested this year, which corresponds to a decrease of 22 percent compared to the previous year. According to the Chamber of Agriculture, a detrimental mix of rain and heat has taken hold here: While the tubers partially rotted in the moist soil, the heat and dryness in summer reduced tuber formation. However, the cultivated area has also fallen from 21,500 hectares to 19,000 hectares.
The harvest of oil pumpkins, which form the basis for pumpkin seed oil, has also fallen sharply. The crop was grown on 30,000 hectares this year, after around 38,000 hectares in the previous year (minus 20.6 percent). The harvest volume was 16,000 tons, 42 percent below the previous year’s level. The moist conditions also had a significant impact on the pumpkins.
The corn harvest was roughly the same as the previous year at 2.1 million tons, but this represents a decrease of 6.8 percent compared to the five-year average. The cultivated area was relatively constant at 210,000 hectares. There were generally neither significant increases nor losses for grain: the harvest volume was 3.02 million tons, after 3 million tons in the previous year.
Things went better for soybean farmers this year. Although the cultivated area was smaller, the harvest rose sharply (plus 7.3 percent) with a yield of 264,000 tons. The plant is considered to be particularly heat-resistant. Sunflowers cope just as well with the heat; the harvest volume increased by 15 percent to almost 65,000 tons. The beet harvest also increased slightly due to a larger cultivated area, but this was only achieved due to great efforts against pests.
“The situation in potato, pumpkin and sugar cultivation is becoming increasingly difficult. The reasons are, on the one hand, climate change with heat and drought and the resulting reduced yields. But pest pressure is also increasing, while there are fewer and fewer options for protecting seeds and young plants “To protect against pests and diseases,” said Moosbrugger, commenting on the development. Without anti-pest agents, growing potatoes would no longer be worthwhile for many businesses, he criticized.
Once again, the President of the Chamber of Agriculture pointed out the economic situation. Producer prices have recently fallen, but the costs for inputs such as fertilizer remain high. “At a time when revenues were reduced due to reduced product prices, input prices did not decline to the same extent.” In 2022, the profits of agricultural businesses rose sharply. From the industry’s perspective, however, this represents a necessary correction after many years of lower increases or stagnation.
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