In Lower Saxony, the wet and cold weather of the last few weeks caused the growth of asparagus to slow down considerably. “The cold influences the growth of the asparagus, and the yield decreased,” stated Fred Eickhorst, managing director of an asparagus farm in Lower Saxony.
As a result, the supply of asparagus to the retailers is lower than the demand. However, it is too early to speculate about this year’s total asparagus yield, because if the temperatures rise again, the asparagus yield will also increase.
Fruit farmers in the Alten Land, a region close to Hamburg, had to take precautions against the frost. These precautions seem to be successful, but the real extent of the damage can only be evaluated towards the end of June.
In Brandenburg, a northeastern state of Germany, asparagus farmers can only continue the current harvest with this cold and wet weather by cultivating asparagus under plastic. Under plastic the temperature sensitive vegetables grow steadily, stated Jürgen Schulze, Manager of the Association of East German Asparagus and Soft Fruit Growers. The plastic ensure a suitable temperature in the asparagus beds. “Without this protection we can’t satisfy the demand for asparagus,” said Schulze.
In Brandenburg 90% of the asparagus fields are covered with plastic. Environmentalists continually make a point of mentioning the negative side effects of the plastic, for instance the decrease in biodiversity. Farmers plan to take steps to compensate this decrease by planting hedges.
According to Schulze, the harvest on the first few asparagus fields has finished, and the plastic used to cover the beds is stored for the next season. During the next few weeks the asparagus plants grow and in the summer the asparagus plants gather strength for the next season.
In the previous year asparagus was cultivated on an area of 4,400 hectares in Brandenburg. It is the most important, open field, horticultural product as it uses 74% of the vegetable acreage in Brandenburg.