Regional losses in earnings were mainly due to weather-related influences, such as a delayed start to the season, increased disease as well as frost, hail and flood damage.
More carrots again
Legumes, root vegetables and onion varieties produced a harvest of 318,200 metric tonnes (+12% compared to 2015), which was slightly below the five-year average (-2%). The onions, which account for almost one third of the total vegetable production, only came to 163,300 metric tonnes (slightly below the 2015 harvest), which is mainly due to the increased occurrence of mildew.
Production was 4% below the five-year average. For carrots, a slightly above-average crop of 98,500 metric tonnes was yielded (+48% compared to 2015), which was considerably better than the bad, heat-affected crop of the previous year. An additional 13,100 metric tonnes of celeriac were also produced, up 7% from 2015.
In the case of green peas, the yield was significantly below average due to a virus infestation, however, 9,000 metric tonnes (-6% from 2015) were harvested thanks to the expansion of the area. Garlic, grown on on a new cultivation area, yielded 1,000 metric tonnes (+14% from 2015).
Cabbage and lettuce losses
The cabbage, leaf and stem vegetables group (including Chinese cabbage) yielded a clearly below-average harvest (-11% compared to the five-year average). But, at 141,300 metric tonnes, it was 8% above the heat-affected, low intake of the previous year.
The lettuce harvest amounted to 48,000 metric tonnes, which was a fifth higher than in the previous year (+20% from 2015). With cabbage, the previous year's total was almost reached at 42,500 metric tonnes (+/- 0% compared to 2015), but this result was still 22% below the five-year average due to disease-related issues.
Cucumber, pumpkin and sweetcorn rise
The cucumber harvest totaled 47,500 metric tonnes, up 9% from 2015), whereas the pepper crop amounted to 14,100 metric tonnes which was 8% less than last year. This was partly due to the area in which the peppers were grown, but also due to a lack of sufficient sunlight in the springtime.
Sweetcorn, on the other hand, produced a harvest of 14,000 metric tonnes (+31% from 2015), due to an expansion of the farming area. Pumpkins, for the same reason, also gave a considerably larger crop this year at 17,500 metric tonnes (+16% from 2015), and courgettes also came to one quarter more than 2015, at 6,200 metric tonnes.
For more information:
Bundesanstalt Statistik Austria
Mag. Beatrix Tomaschek
Guglgasse 13
1110 Vienna
Tel.: +43 (1) 71128-7851
presse@statistik.gv.at