"Worst year ever"

Crop failure: 80 percent fewer beetle beans

Extreme weather threatens the scarlet runner bean

(Bild: Melanie Fanzott/Alwera/Steirerkraft)

Will the scarlet runner bean become a rarity? Market leader Steirerkraft expects up to 80 percent crop failure and speaks of the "worst year ever" for the Styrian crop. Some farmers are already experimenting with Asian edamame.

"A historic low", "the harvest has never been this bad": the mood among Styrian scarlet runner bean producers is one of crisis. Raphael Eitljörg from St. Ruprecht an der Raab cultivates 75 hectares. "We are used to the fact that the weather can be challenging at times, but this year it has downright destroyed the scarlet runner bean."

This year's poor harvest is due to the extreme weather conditions fueled by climate change. While flowering suffered from the summer heat, later rainfall caused problems with ripening and harvesting. Andreas Cretnik and Gerhard Merdonik, board members of the Styrian Alwera Group, which includes "Steirerkraft": "The harvest eclipses everything we have experienced so far. Never before have the challenges posed by extreme weather been so massive."

Farmer Raphael Eitljörg

(Bild: Alwera/Steirerkraft)

100 instead of 800 kilograms per hectare
One of 120 contract farmers is the Janisch vegetable farm in Großsteinbach. Denise and Matthias Janisch have been growing beetle beans on ten hectares in Ilz, Feistritztal and Vulkanland for over 20 years. "We already have to sort out a lot of rotten beetle beans. The moisture has caused enormous damage. It was probably the worst season ever in terms of harvest," they say.

Whereas last time around 750 to 800 kilograms of beetle beans were harvested per hectare, this time it was "just 100 kilograms, sometimes even less", explains Denise Janisch.

Denise and Matthias Janisch from Großsteinbach

(Bild: Foto Fischer)

Does the bean have an expiration date?
Janisch hopes that this year was a downward blip. "But overall, we are already noticing that the climatic changes will make it necessary to permanently adapt the crops." This is why the family business recently added edamame to its portfolio. "This special soybean comes from East Asia and is therefore particularly adapted to warmer climatic conditions."

If this continues, the beetle bean threatens to become extinct.

Dominic Bauer

Raphael Eitljörg also feels compelled to test alternatives. "Beetle beans are part of our identity - but if the conditions don't change, we will have to rely on other, more resistant plants in the medium term."

Dominic Bauer from Riegersburg even fears the end of the Styrian crop in the face of climate change: "The capricious weather is having a massive impact on the scarlet runner bean - if it continues like this, the crop threatens to die out."

Prices will rise
Steirerkraft, meanwhile, is trying to work with Gleisdorf seed breeding on more resistant, heat-resistant varieties. For this year, however, the poor harvest means that prices will tend to rise.