Drought in Saxony puts farmers under pressure

The drought that has persisted for weeks in Saxony is causing problems for farmers. Although the summer grain harvest is over, farmers have long since sown winter crops such as winter barley, rapeseed and winter wheat. "Rainfall is urgently needed for their growth," explained Andreas Jahnel, head of department at the state farmers' association. Heat and drought are also becoming a problem for the maize that is still standing in the fields.

Drought stress for the plants

The so-called plant-available water in the topsoil has once again reached the critical range in large parts of Saxony, said Jahnel. He was referring to the drought monitor of the Environmental Research Center (UFZ) in Leipzig. This shows that the plants in Saxony, with the exception of the Erzgebirge, are suffering from drought stress or have already reached the point where they are wilting and withering away.

Individual heavy thunderstorms in recent weeks have not been able to change the overall situation, explained Jahnel. "The dry soil is usually unable to absorb this heavy rainfall."

Rain predicted

The German Weather Service is forecasting a significant drop in temperatures for the coming week following the heatwave. According to the forecasts, some rain is also in sight again in Saxony from Monday.

Difficult year 2024

According to the state farmers' association, the rapeseed and grain harvests were slightly below average this year. There were also regional differences. Spring started very wet in Germany, meaning that field work was slow to get underway in many areas. This was compounded by late frosts in April, which led to losses in fruit growing and viticulture in particular, but also affected individual arable crops, according to Jahnel. The state farmers' association plans to provide information on the 2024 harvest balance sheet this Monday.