The German Farmers Association (DBV) recently reported on the harvest situation of vegetables and fruit in Germany for the German 'Harvest Press Conference 2012'.
Following the regular fruit harvest of 2011, this year's harvest was sub par. The harvest of the most important fruit, the apple, will amount to approximately 933,000 tons this year, according to the current estimates. That is 2 percent less than last year. Significantly lower yields than last year's were also reported for pears, stone fruits, cherries, and plums. Frost and hail are the main causes.
The berry harvest will be around the same level as last year. The current estimate is that the harvest yield for red berries will be around 9,000 tonnes and around 4,000 tonnes for raspberries. The blueberry harvest is estimated to be around 9,000 tonnes.
Current estimates indicate that the vegetable acreage has hardly changed compared to last year. The asparagus season started slowly in 2012, due to weather conditions. Nevertheless, an even market supply could be achieved. The asparagus harvest came to around 94,000 tonnes, making it approximately 10 percent lower than last year.