Heavy rains are jeopardizing the harvest in Germany, Joachim Rukwied, head of the German Farmers' Association said on Monday.
The grain harvest is predicted to come in at 42 million tons, slightly below last year's result, Rukwied explained during a farm visit in Frankfurt.
Warm and moist conditions were promoting rot in the potato crop, with the result that harvests could fail in the absence of pesticides, he said.
Rukwied said that pesticides were needed, given flooding and waterlogging. "In combination with rising temperatures, the risk of fungal infestation is rising sharply in many crops," he added.
Farmers needed a broad range of agents to maintain plant resistance, while fewer pesticides and agricultural substances were available in Germany, Rukwied said.
Wet conditions in the autumn hit the sowing plans of many farmers in low-lying regions, with the result that the areas planted with winter wheat and rapeseed declined.
Sowing was often postponed to the spring, with the result that the area sown to summer wheat almost tripled to 100,000 hectares.
Nevertheless, winter wheat, with 2.6 million hectares sown, remains the most important grain crop in Germany by far, followed by winter barley at 1.3 million hectares.
The German statistical agency Destatis reported that this year's cherry harvest at 41,400 tons would be 900 tons up on last year's but down by 6,200 tons on the long-term average.
Late frost during the flowering period in certain areas were to blame in the north of the country, while yields were set to rise strongly in the south-west, Destatis said.
Cultivation of sweet cherries is on the rise while that of sour cherries is declining, with the sour cherry harvest estimated at 7,300 tons, the lowest level in a decade. Some 80% of the harvest is sweet cherry and 20% sour cherry.
German cherry consumption is also declining, with consumption per head between April 2022 and March 2023 coming it at 1.7 kilograms, 21% down on the year, the national agriculture and nutrition authority reported on Friday. The figures include fresh as well as processed fruit.
Last year, German consumed 144,000 tons of cherries, down from 182,000 tons in 2022, with the most important foreign source for fresh cherries being Turkey at around 20,000 tons. The main source for processed cherries was Hungary at 26,800 tons.
