Is the rainfall sufficient in Lower Franconia?

The weather in Lower Franconia has been changeable for several weeks, rain showers keep coming up. “> Precipitation is immensely important for nature, because the past few months have been much too dry except for February. But is the rain enough to allow plants to recover and farmers in the region to breathe a sigh of relief?

Poor harvest in prospect

The rain has definitely come too late for some plants, says Stefan Khler, the Lower Franconian President of the Bavarian Farmers’ Association (BBV): “Winter crops such as rapeseed, wheat and barley will no longer make up for this.” Future rain could cause even heavier, more voluminous grains in winter cereals. The damage caused by the dry spring could no longer make up for this. Overall, the BBV also assumes a poorer harvest than the long-term average for the current year. How strong the build-in will be is not yet foreseeable, says Khler.

Nevertheless, agriculture has benefited from the rain, he says. Overall, an average of about 30 millimeters of precipitation fell in Lower Franconia last weekend and this was fairly evenly distributed in all regions. Corn and sugar beet that were only stalked a few weeks ago can grow and grow better due to the rain. “If the weather changes now, these summer crops still have the potential for normal yields,” says Khler.

Roots die

The forests in the region have also suffered massively from the spring drought. Peter Naumann speaks of a catastrophic situation. “After four to six weeks without rain, the trees suffer sustained root damage,” says the forest engineer of the mountain forest project. These are usually not irreversible, but it takes years for dead fine roots to grow again. Therefore, the consequences of a dry period are only very delayed, says Naumann. The rain of the past week is therefore not sufficient for a long-term effect.

Another factor aggravates the situation, at least in the Wrzburg area. “The floors here are very rocky and are made of 40 percent clay. The water available for plants is therefore low,” explains Naumann. In heavy rain, the water simply runs off on these floors. In order to sustainably improve the situation in the domestic forest, changeable weather with recurring precipitation over weeks was necessary. In view of the previous very dry summers, Naumann considers such a weather situation to be unlikely.

Too much moisture harms wine

Adequate rainfall also plays an important role for winegrowing in Lower Franconia, especially in the spring months. However, especially older vines are not as prone to drought stress, says Daniel Hedrfer, head of research coordination at the Institute for Viticulture and Oenology at the Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture (LWG) in Veitshchheim (district Wrzburg). One advantage that the vine has over an orchard is, according to Hedrfer, its intensive root growth: “This also opens up deeper soil regions.”

So far, the wine in the region has weathered the dry spring well. Further rainfalls are desirable, but too much moisture in the coming months could even have a negative impact, explains Hedrfer. Because that favors about fungal diseases. “In the summer months, the winemakers even hope for moderately dry weather,” says the expert.

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• Wrzburg

• Veitshchheim

• Anna-Lena Behnke

• Farmers’ associations

• Bavarian Farmers’ Association

• barley

• Precipitation

• Plants and flora

• Rapeseed

• Viticulture

• Weingrtner

• wheat

• Weather

• Weather conditions

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