Due to the mild temperatures the asparagus season has already started in some places in Germany. With this it is the earliest start of the season in three years. "If the weather stays like this the growers will bring in very good harvest." Explains Michael Koch of the German Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI) to the German newspaper 'Bild'. The large supply that will result from this will nevertheless cause low consumer prices. Last year a kilo of asparagus had an average price of 6.24 euro.
It hasn't come to this yet in the region of Nordrhein West-fallen but even here the asparagus growers are already hoping for an early start of the season. "When the weather stays good and sunny, they can plant the first asparagus round the 25th or the 26th of March." Explains Ralf Große Dankbar, asparagus advisor to the Agriculture Board NRW in Münster. "But if the weather gets colder it will all turn out differently." In 2013, the asparagus harvest in this region did not start until the beginning of May.
The harvest will not start at the same time in Nordrhein West-fallen because of the differences in the temperature. In the eight growing areas in this region approximately 430 asparagus growers are growing asparagus on roughly 4,000 hectares. Most of them are selling part of their harvest directly to the consumer anyway.