The harvest is not yet completely complete; some sugar beet and corn are still in the fields. What is already certain, however, is that this year there will only be an average to below-average autumn harvest for Upper Austria’s arable farmers: the yield of grain corn will be eleven tons per hectare, compared to the long-term average of 11.2 tons. The harvest volume is expected to fall by four percent to 532,000 tons. The average year for soybeans was also 63,300 tons, as Helmut Feitzlmayr, director of crop production at the Upper Austrian Chamber of Agriculture (LKOÖ), said at a press conference on Tuesday. The volume of oil pumpkin rose by eleven percent to 1,330 tons, and there was also an increase in the area under cultivation.
“Agricultural farmers have to deal with two major challenges this year. On the one hand, the weather and, on the other hand, the poor price level,” said Franz Waldenberger, President of the LKOÖ: The extreme weather damage in Upper Austria this year amounts to 33 million euros, around 75 percent of which is accounted for Heat and drought. The harvest in our state this year was divided into two parts: the northeastern part in particular suffered from heat from mid-July onwards. In the affected areas, the harvest started earlier, while in most of the western parts of the country it began at the end of September and resulted in good yields. There was also more regular rainfall here. The damage caused by the flood in September plays a minor role in Upper Austria: only three percent of the total damage can be attributed to this.
According to Waldenberger, the prices for grain corn and soy have also settled at a low level this year: 185 to 200 euros net per ton were paid for grain corn in October. Contract prices of 400 to 140 euros per tonne were already offered for soy in the spring: these did not rise any further until the harvest. At the same time, the costs of operating resources have increased.
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Image: LKÖÖ
Source: Nachrichten
