Becoming the first EU producer
Germany passes Spanish and French production of asparagus
German's average asparagus production between 2008 and 2010 was around the 94,400 tons, meaning a 77% rise regarding the average from 2000 to 2002, according to data coming from the United Nations Organization for Food and Farming (FAO) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In the analyzed period, Spanish production, traditionally the main producer in EU, went from 63,700 tons in 2000-2002 to 47,800 tons in 2008-2010, some 25% less. French production also dropped, like the Greek. In 2000-2002, the French production went from 22,800 tons to 16,800 tons in 2008-2010, some 40% less; as for the Greek production it was reduced by 40%, going from 28,000 tons to 16,800 tons.
Together with Germany, only Italy saw a growth during the analyzed period, as its asparagus production went from 38,000 tons in 2000-2002 to 42,000 tons in 2008-2010 (+11%).
As for the world production, Germany takes the third place after Peru and China. Peruvian asparagus production in 2008-2010 was 325,800 tons, 31% of the world production and China's production was of 260,000 tons (25% of the world total).
According to the agricultural information service from Germany (AMI), the number of hectares dedicated to asparagus in the country in 2011 was of 21,628, with Lower Saxony having the biggest area: 4,725 hectares, followed by North Rhine Westfalia with 3,409 hectares and Brandenburg with 3,080 hectares.
For FEPEX, the spectacular growth of the production of fruits and vegetables in Germany like asparagus is related to the present CAP and the distribution of direct payments, and the social work policy applied in the different member-states regarding seasonal employment of foreigners from third party countries.
The mentioned data by FEPEX comes from AMI (the German agriculture information service), the UN for Food and Agriculture (FAO) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) collected by Euroasper 2012, the new European Symposium for Asparagus, that happened recently in Granada, with the collaboration of Asociafruit.