Eleven percent less

Wet winter rained out domestic grain harvest

Between 80 and 85 percent of the winter wheat harvest has already been harvested

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

Despite record grain harvests worldwide, domestic farmers have recorded massive declines in yields of wheat, barley, rapeseed and other cereals this year. However, the situation is completely different for fruit and vegetables: Low losses due to pests and favorable weather conditions resulted in good yields.

Uncertainty prevails among grain farmers. Not only did the extremely rainy winter drown the roots of many grain plants, but record harvests all over the world, especially in the Black Sea region, are also forcing their way onto the European market. In addition, the profit margin for golden ears has halved since before the pandemic, as fixed costs have risen massively while the price has remained constant.

Record yields worldwide
Although a record wheat harvest of 798 million tons is expected worldwide this year, Austria - like the rest of Europe - did not fare so well, according to Chamber of Agriculture President Franz Waldenberger. Across the EU, a decline of 7 million tons to 128 million tons is expected, mainly due to the difficult weather conditions in Germany and France. The largest wheat producer globally is China with 140 million tons, ahead of the EU and India (114 million tons). The grain harvest in Russia is likely to be poor - frost, drought and persistent rain are said to have caused a drop of 9 million tons to 84.1 million tons. In Ukraine, the harvest is expected to be the same as last year.

Seal of quality should help
Grain production in Upper Austria is also 11 percent below the long-term average this year, "we have a very difficult situation", says Waldenberger. With the exception of winter barley, all cereal crops are in decline because harvest volumes are low and prices are poor. It is hoped that the fact that grain can now be marketed with the AMA seal of quality will improve the situation. "We are looking back on a wet grain year," says Plant Production Director Helmut Feitzlmayr, adding that the weather also favored fungal diseases.

More damage than before
According to the Chamber, damage reports have generally doubled this year (as of July 16) compared to the previous year, which is largely due to the wet spring and heavy rainfall. As far as frost and hail damage is concerned, we have got off lightly so far.

Good year for fruit growers
According to Feitzlmayr, things have gone very well in fruit growing, for example with apricots, cherries and strawberries, which were spared from frost this year. In addition, there was a "fantastic vegetable harvest", which started very soon due to the high temperatures in spring. The area under oil pumpkin cultivation, which had declined in the previous year, increased again this year - by 15 percent to 1,500 hectares. The sugar beet cultivation area also increased significantly - by 17 percent to 9,500 hectares - which Feitzlmayr attributes to the high contribution margins, so it is lucrative.

Renaturation at a high level
As far as the design of the renaturation plan is concerned, Waldenberger once again insisted that farmers should be involved and that set-asides - including advance payments already made as part of the ÖPUL program - should be compensated. "We have more than 36,000 hectares of biodiversity areas in Upper Austria. That is almost as much as the acreage for winter barley, "but this is being completely ignored", he fears.

Poisonous plants on the rise
Farmers are facing increasing problems due to old and new poisonous plants, which are also spreading more easily on less intensively cultivated areas, as Waldenbeger emphasized: this year, for example, spotted hemlock has increased in biodiversity areas due to seed dispersal, but datura, which is favored by warming temperatures and can render entire maize or soybean crops unusable, is also on the rise, as is the invasive and highly allergenic ragweed.