Long asparagus season leads to record harvest in Germany

Because of the early start of the harvest, the 2014 asparagus season was one of the longest ever in Germany. At the beginning of April, more asparagus was already harvested from fields where cultivation was brought forward by making use of foil. And although the harvest was finished in some cases before the traditional end of the season on June 24, according to the German Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI), 2014 had a lot of harvest and sales days.

According to a preliminary estimate of the harvest amount by the German Statistical Office, with 114,500 tonnes, this year's asparagus harvest is the biggest ever in Germany. When compared to both last year and 2011, the previous record year, the harvest increase is around 11%. The harvest increase is mainly thanks to increased harvest amounts in Hesse (+49% compared to 2013), Baden-Württemberg (+26%), North Rhine-Westphalia (+19%) and Saxony (+19%). Only in Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia and Rhineland-Palatinate, less asparagus was harvested than last year. In Brandenburg, the harvest amount was marginally higher than last year (+1%).

According to preliminary figures, asparagus was harvested on an acreage of 20,400 hectares in Germany in 2014. That is a 4% bigger acreage than in the previous year. Especially in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Bavaria the acreage increased a lot, with 17, 16 and 13% respectively.