Heat and hardly any rain
While what is probably the second warmest summer in Austrian history has broken records, the damage to agriculture has also increased enormously. Hail insurance alone estimates the drought damage for this year at around 150 million euros. On top of this, there are also late frosts in spring, hail, storms and flooding.
"Currently, the total damage to agriculture in Austria (in total, note) amounts to 250 million euros, 150 million euros due to the drought, 100 million due to frost, hail, storm and flooding," explained hail insurance boss Kurt Weinberger in a press release on Tuesday. Agriculture almost everywhere except in the west is "often faced with parched fields due to the historic number of hot days". According to Hagelversicherung, there is drought damage above all to maize, sunflowers, soybeans, sugar beet and grassland.
Pest problems on the rise
Despite irrigation, heat-sensitive crops such as cabbage are suffering greatly from heat stress, leading to yield losses of up to 80 percent, according to the Chamber of Agriculture. Carrots, onions and sweetcorn also suffer from reduced yields. According to Josef Moosbrugger, head of the Chamber of Agriculture, pest problems also increase in the heat. He considers criticism of pesticides in this situation to be "incomprehensible and populist".
The full extent of the damage is not yet visible
A dry period of heat from July onwards benefited the grain harvest, but damaged autumn crops such as maize, sugar beet, soybeans and sunflowers, some of which are already being harvested with poor yields. The full extent of the damage will only become apparent after the harvest, said the head of the Chamber of Agriculture.
The dry, hot summer of 2024 will also bring a relatively low wine harvest for Austria. The Chamber of Agriculture expects around two million hectoliters. If the extreme heat and drought continues, it could be slightly less. However, very good quality is expected, said Johannes Schmuckenschlager, head of the winegrowers' association, on Tuesday. The average harvest of the previous five years was 2.41 million hectoliters.
Massive apple harvest losses
In the 2024 fruit-growing season, there were frost events in April that led to harvest losses. Only a third of the normal harvest is expected for apples, the most important crop in Austrian fruit growing. There have only been two normal harvest years in the last ten years.
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