The cold snap of last week has led to massive damage in large parts of Styria. According to a preliminary estimation 80% of the fruit harvest has been destroyed and the damage is estimated at about 100 million Euro.
After the difficult weather conditions in 2014 and 2015 Agricultural Chamber president Franz Titschenbacher now fears another disappointing harvest this year. “It would be very sad if the fruit growers have to cope again with huge losses.”
A gigantic disaster, especially for apple farmers
Particularly the 2,000 apple farmers in Styria are affected, many have to deal with the expectation of a total crop failure. The first calculations show damage of the fruit crops (wine and pumpkins excluded) of about 100 million Euro.The politician Johann Seitinger wants to check how much of the damage can be covered by the insurance. “It is really a gigantic disaster. You should imagine that more than 2,000 farmers and their families have lost their yearly income in one night. And you have to consider the economics behind it, on the one hand we have to convince the farmers to hang in there, and help and hope that the natural disasters will decrease. On the other hand we have to expand the insurance possibilities.”