Farmers worried

Plants in full bloom: trembling before “normal weather”

Morning frosts in spring are harmful for blossoming fruit trees.

(Bild: zonch - stock.adobe.com)

It can't be overlooked - due to the much too mild temperatures at the beginning of the year, many plants are already in the middle of flowering, especially in the east of the country. Far too early for the time of year: if "normal" weather returns now - even if only briefly - the harvest is once again at risk.

Last year, for example, apricot growers in the Wachau region complained of an almost total failure - the reason for this was the dreaded late frost. And this year, too, the prospects for a harvest look rather bleak.

Compared to the long-term temperature average (period from 1962 to 1991), some plants are up to one and a half months earlier than normal. While some people find the current temperatures quite pleasant, farmers are beginning to tremble.

The plants are currently up to one and a half months ahead of their time.

(Bild: APA/Herbert Pfarrhofer)

Plants in particularly sensitive phases
"If severe frost occurs in the next three months (until May), all parts of plants that are already growing, which often also lose their frost resistance due to the activation of annual growth, would be particularly at risk," explains agricultural meteorologist and climate change researcher Josef Eitzinger to krone.at. A longer frost period would be particularly fatal in this case.

According to the expert from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), it would be particularly tricky if the cold coincided with a particularly sensitive phase of plant development. This primarily refers to the flowering phase of fruit trees, the post-flowering phase, when the fruiting bodies are still very small, but also the formation of young shoots in vines and arable crops (such as potatoes, kukuruz or vegetables).

Will there be no late frost? Hopes are slim
Many farmers are now also hoping that the capricious weather conditions caused by climate change will extend into the spring and that the unusually mild weather will perhaps spare the crops after all. However, Eitzinger does not want to raise false hopes: "The risk of a late frost in the coming months is definitely there." A corresponding forecast depends very much on the weather conditions, which are difficult to predict.

Last year's fruit harvest was already clearly in the red:

Measures expensive and moderately successful
So if the dreaded frost really does come around the corner, the only remaining options are the well-known frost protection measures, such as covering the plants, frost protection irrigation, heating methods (kerosene candles, burning barrels) or the application of agents to delay budding (mainly used in viticulture). However, these methods are expensive and often only work well during short periods of night frost, Eitzinger continues.

Farmers therefore have to continue to be anxious and keep a close eye on the weather forecast. But will they perhaps have to switch to other crops in the long term? The expert recommends at least avoiding cultivation in frost-prone locations with cold air pockets, using frost-resistant varieties and not starting cultivation too early.

Do apricots & co. still have a future here?
In principle, it is "foreseeable that frost temperatures will decrease and winters will become increasingly warmer", Eitzinger explains to krone.at. One of the main problems will probably be that plants will lose their winter hardiness too early (as has already happened this year). Although there is also a trend for the last late frost in spring to move forward, the risk of frost does not necessarily balance out, as the plants' budding falls in the period in which the days are even shorter - and therefore the risk of lower temperatures increases.

Frost alone not the main problem
However, frost alone will not be the biggest problem for farmers in future anyway. Although the general rise in temperature will extend the growing period for annual crops, it will also mean that significantly more insects will survive the winter, which can have a damaging effect - and new thermophilic plants and insects will colonize, which will pose a further challenge.

However, the lengthening of the growing season is adding to the problems that have already become apparent in recent years: massive drought and increasing heavy rainfall. The effects of climate change are therefore "complex and diverse", summarizes Eitzinger. In any case, farmers are facing a lot of work and probably even more uncertainty.