With Europe in the midst of another heatwave amid parched fields from the hot weather, Germany has warned of the potential risk to food.
“Persistent drought is already leading to significant bottlenecks in the feed supply,” Alois Rainer, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Community, headed up an interim report today (12 August) on the implications.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“The ongoing drought is developing into a serious burden for our agriculture and forestry,” Rainer said.
“Over the past few weeks, I have seen the situation for myself in various regions of Germany and spoken to numerous farmers. Many are looking forward to the coming weeks with great concern. Behind the parched fields are families who fear for their harvest, their income and sometimes for the future of their business.”
Rainer added the extent of the damage can only be fully assessed when a government report on harvests comes out at the end of August.
The minister said the government is preparing for relief measures to ease the burden, including funding and insurance for farmers.
“If an extraordinary, cross-border damage situation is confirmed and the conditions for a damaging event of national proportions are determined, the necessary relief measures can be launched together with the federal states,” Rainer said.
“The effects can vary regionally and range from yield losses to burdens on grassland, feed and water supply and animal husbandry to increased risks of forest fires, pest infestation and forest health.”
The minister added: “If grassland and fodder yields decline, fodder has to be purchased at high prices and farms could be forced to reduce animal populations in the future – this will affect the substance of our agriculture.”
Before this week’s heatwave, a report came out in July from the UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) noting the devastation to milk yields from the previous bouts of hot weather.
And earlier this month, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said the cereals and oilseeds harvest in the UK could fall to 19.5 million tonnes if current yield assumptions from the AHDB hold, threatening the worst harvest in decades.
