Drought cuts Styria’s vegetable harvest by up to 45%

Vegetable growers in Styria say the region’s harvest is 40 to 45 per cent lower this year because of extreme drought, ORF reported.

Manfred Kohlfürst, chairman of Austria’s fruit and vegetable industry association, said losses vary by crop. Chinese cabbage sown in late summer has suffered the biggest damage in fields without irrigation, with yields down by as much as 50 per cent. Carrot and onion harvests are each about 25 per cent lower, while potato losses are also significant. Salad crops have partly recovered.

Markus Hillebrand, a vegetable grower in Bierbaum near Premstätten, said almost half of his carrot field had dried out. High temperatures and warm nights meant irrigation could not keep up, he said, and some seeds burned in the soil despite watering.

Growers irrigate where possible, but the cost of systems often powered by diesel has risen sharply. Hillebrand said water extraction is closely monitored and that growers face high regulatory requirements. He said farmers did not want to pass the additional irrigation costs on to consumers.

Drought also reduced this year’s apple harvest in Styria by about a third. Pumpkin, maize and grain yields were each down by an average of around 20 per cent.