100 Percent Loss

Heat Ruins Harvest: “This Is Unprecedented”

Josef Handl is a dairy farmer in the Mostviertel region: The fields are completely dry this year.(Bild: Josef Handl / KRONE Kreativ)

Across Lower Austria, the heat is scorching the cultivated fields. A farmer from the Mostviertel region is now sounding the alarm: “Politicians must set up a disaster relief fund for farmers!”

No one is waiting more eagerly for a little rain right now than local farmers: “Since there was never any widespread rain in June and July, this year’s harvest is looking meager,” reports Josef Handl from Wieselburg, speaking directly from the field. And he’s far from the only one. As an independent chamber member (UBV), he’s well aware of the current crisis: “Many colleagues have already had to reduce their livestock because there’s not enough feed!”

Handl himself has about 150 cows, 70 of which are milked regularly. “We, too, have already sent a few animals to the slaughterhouse.” While there are still some grass reserves left over from spring, most of the feed corn was supposed to be harvested in late summer.

However, the groundwater level was already too low in the winter, so the corn cobs aren’t growing properly. Handl is facing 100 percent crop failure with corn and 90 percent with grain. “It’s never been this bad,” he says.

Because the corn received far too little water, in some cases not even corn cobs have grown.(Bild: zVf)

Can’t Rely on Ukraine as a “Wheat Basket”
But this should serve as a wake-up call: “Because even if we can import from other countries for now—what will we do if it’s just as dry there?” The European Union and its trade agreements are a constant thorn in the side of local farmers.

They often feel that these agreements put Austria’s high-quality agricultural products at a disadvantage. If the wheat harvest in Austria is poor, Ukraine often serves as a supplier. “But we can’t rely on imports during a climate crisis,” says Handl. 

Handl and the Independent Farmers’ Association are calling on policymakers to establish a disaster relief fund for farmers for the coming years. Crop failures are pushing many to the very limits of their livelihoods. Whether it’s heat or flooding: “We’re hanging by a thread!”