Overview
- This week the cereal harvest has started and fields in many German regions still promise average yields while localized heat damage and storms leave quality and later crops such as wheat at risk.
- Farmers report a widening cost–price gap with fertiliser, diesel and energy costs high and producer prices low, with bread-wheat cited at about €170 per tonne, which many associations say does not cover production costs.
- Farm organisations are pressing for immediate measures such as an extension of the fuel subsidy (Tankrabatt), tighter import controls and clearer national and EU support to stop rising liquidity problems on farms.
- Seasonal labour is under threat because proposed changes to minijob rules could reduce the available workforce for harvests and several regions have already shifted plantings, notably a roughly 40% rise in soybean area in Saxony to 2,600 hectares.
- Austria’s agriculture chamber now expects about 2.7 million tonnes of grain this year, a roughly 15% fall, and emergency pesticide approvals for an invasive cicada underline mounting biological risks that are driving short‑term fixes but not long‑term solutions.