Continued lack of rainfall mounts pressure on eastern Germany鈥檚 farmers
Die Welt
Eastern Germany is grappling with the effects of several years of very little rainfall that could severely impact the region鈥檚 agricultural productivity, Matthias Kamann for newspaper Die Welt. After three consecutive years of droughts between 2018 and 2020, this year again has brought little precipitation to the region so far, meaning soils are dry up to nearly two metres below the surface, a situation that researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research call 鈥渆xceptional,鈥� Kamann writes. The farmers鈥� association of the state of Brandenburg said the region would need at least an entire week of intense rainfall to save many of this year鈥檚 crops, which appears unlikely.
麻豆无码版 crops like corn and turnip could be especially affected by the looming drought, whereas Germany's wheat production is not in danger, as soils in most other parts of the country do not suffer from a lack of water. However, states like Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin are also worried about possible wildfires and have announced plans to improve the states鈥� water management, including the use of crops that require less irrigation and restrictions on water extraction. The conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) called on Green Party agriculture minister Cem 脰zdemir to advocate the use of genetically modified crops at the EU level to ensure farmers can use plants that are more suitable for dry conditions.
Researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) already warned last year that eastern Germany would likely bear the brunt of drier weather conditions in the country in the next years. Extreme droughts and heatwaves in 2018 and 2019 have greatly raised awareness of climate change impacts across Germany and measures to adapt to warmer temperatures and regional extreme weather events are increasingly seen as indispensable alongside emissions reduction efforts.
