Harvest balance 2024: Farmers fight with rain and harvest losses in Schongau

Harvest balance 2024: Farmers fight with rain and harvest losses in Schongau

In the district of Weilheim-Schongau, the harvest year 2024 is characterized by considerable challenges for farmers. In the case of a press conference on the harvest, it quickly became clear that the weather plays a crucial role this year. The farmer Dominik Pentenrieder from Fischen reported harvest losses of up to 30 percent in his fields. Moisture and rain made the cultivation of corn and grain particularly difficult, which led to a painful balance.

The year started problematically with too little rainfall in April, followed by an oversupply of rain that affected the quality of the harvest. "Corn and grain looked good, but the quality has suffered," said Pentenrieder. Some fields were completely unusable by floods caused by a beaver.

difficulties in field use

The extreme weather conditions not only ensured high moisture, but also insufficient access to the fields. Many farmers had to interrupt their work again and again and had difficulty harvesting bread and harvesting bread wheat. Wolfgang Scholz, the BBV district chairman, explained that the quality of the harvest did not meet expectations, which led to wheat that could not be sold to the food industry, but ended as cattle food.

Andreas Oswald, Vice Chairman of the Bavarian Farmers' Association, emphasized that the yield in the grassland varied a lot. Rain often made it difficult to hit the optimal time for fertilization and the hay hide. The delaying hay not threatened the quality of the feed grass, which directly influences the milk production of the livestock breeders. A delayed Hieren, which was only possible in July, had the consequence that farmers had to fall back on more expensive concentrate to compensate for the deficit.

Another discussed point was the ban on change that forbids to convert grassland in arable land. While Scholz pleaded for a cancellation, Stefan Gabler, head of the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry, argued that a change would cause massive CO2 emissions.

Brief overview of the acreage

There are currently no figures for 2024. A look back at the cultivation areas of the previous year shows that corn (2,028 hectares) and various types of grain such as winter wheat (642 hectares) and winter barley (572 hectares) were grown on around 5,000 hectares in the region. Oil seeds and protein plants also played a role, with 19 hectares of rapeseed and 35 hectares of arable beans.

The farmers in Weilheim-Schongau are faced with the challenge of adapting to the continuously changing weather conditions. The coming weeks will be crucial to find out how the harvest in 2024 will ultimately develop. The situation remains tense and the farmers hope for an improvement in the weather conditions and thus also their harvest quantities. Further details on this topic are in an article on www.merkur.de to be found.