Storms Hit European Farmers
August 12, 2002
The bad weather hitting Europe has taken a toll not only on the businesses that profit from tourism, but also on farmers - especially those in Germany and Italy.
Farmers in northeastern Italy are bracing for more rains after the worst hailstorm in recent memory ravaged wine grapes, tobacco crops and olive groves. Meanwhile, their counterparts around Rome have lost their entire crop of peaches.
German farmers are also left facing fields under water and a wet harvest. According to the German Farmers' Association DBV, though, it's still too early to estimate the extent of the damage.
"We can only say that when we see what could be harvested after all and what crops could be sold," a DBV spokesman told DW-WORLD.
Higher costs
The storms have particularly hit grain farms in the southern state of Bavaria. But Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have also taken losses, mainly in fruit - such as apple orchards - and vegetables.Wolfgang Arens of the Farmers' Association of Lower Saxony estimates the damage for that region alone to total more than 100 million euro ($97.7 million).
Farmers faced higher costs for cleaning and drying those grains they could harvest, Arens told reporters. "As it is, 30 percent of our wheat intended for the bread market can only be sold as animal feed now."
His counterpart in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Torsten Weidmann, reports that many farmers can't even set foot onto their fields. "At the beginning of August, we saw more rain in one day than we did in an entire month on average," he says.
Weidmann expects the state's grain farmers to post 20 to 30 percent less proceeds than in the previous year.
Not "an existential threat"
"It is certainly a severe burden for farmers in the affected regions," the DBV spokesman said. But, he added, it did not involve "an existential threat". Very few farms based their output solely on grains, but also diversified with livestock or vegetables, for example.
"Of course, it's a burden when they can't harvest their fields, but hardly any farmer will go bankrupt because of it," he said.
Often, stocks from previous years when there was a good harvest have been put aside to compensate for such a situation.
The spokesman pointed out that farmers do not just plan on an annual basis. "They know how dependent their livelihood is on the weather and calculate this risk." For this reason, most German farms offer mixed agriculture and livestock, so they can generally cope with a situation such as this year's summer storms, he added.
No need to overreact
The association spokesman admitted that there were individual cases in Austria and Bavaria, where farmers faced a 100 percent loss.
"If their field is under water, the crops are ruined and will not bring any proceeds," he said. "But across the board, it's somewhat relative, so I wouldn't say it is a general trend."
The Farmers' Association is therefore reserved in what steps to take next. The spokesman would not confirm whether DBV will ask for financial support from the federal government.
"We don't want to overreact," the spokesman said. "We first have to determine what action is even necessary and it's just too early to do so."