Germany: A lot of harvest damage due to heavy weather in the last decade

Freezing cold, boiling heat, heavy rainfall, hurricane force storms and hailstones the size of tennis balls are becoming more common in German weather. Between 2000 and 2011 there were three catastrophic floods and five periods of drought, among others.

The highest harvest damage was in 2003 due to drought (1,300 million Euro), followed by the flood and high water damage (770 million Euro). In third place is the extreme hail damage in 2009 (168 million Euro), followed by the extremely late frost damage in 2011 (120 million Euro). 2007 was noted as the year with the highest damage caused by storms (45 million Euro) and 2011 as the year with the highest damage due to frost (26.5 million Euro).

The yearly damage cost estimated by experts of around 602 million Euro is becoming more and more of a problem for agriculture. Only around a fifth of this damage (112.8 million Euro) is covered by the German hail insurance. The risk of damage due to heavy rainfall and floods (115.9 million Euro) is as important.