Disastrous prices: German farmers are destroying their strawberry fields - and appealing to consumers
Created: 06/13/2022, 04:58
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
Strawberry farmers in Münsterland are destroying their fields.
The reason given is that cultivation is simply no longer worthwhile.
Münster – Strawberry sales are not good business for the farmers this year.
In the Münsterland, some strawberry farmers are taking a radical step and are no longer harvesting their fields for sale, as reported by
WDR
.
For example, farmer Andreas Rahmann from Coesfeld mows his strawberry fields - along with the ripe fruit.
Farmer harvests strawberry field - and appeals to consumers
He now wants to grow corn on the field so that he can still bring in money this year.
“One could cry – this is a year's work, or even several years.
If you then destroy it without having the benefit, it's very annoying," Rahmann told
WDR
.
His problem: Grocery stores prefer to buy cheaper strawberries from abroad.
For a 500 gram bowl of strawberries, the farmer would currently get just under one euro and one cent from retailers - but that would mean paying more.
Rahmann appealed to the Germans: "If we consumers want to continue having strawberries from Germany, then we have to pay more money for it - there is no other way." But he also does not understand why the retail price range for strawberries is so large and that of the Farmers so small if the latter had to bear the risks such as storms.
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Strawberry cultivation: High costs, low prices
He is not alone in his opinion: The costs are high and the price low, so the harvest is not worthwhile in some places, said Bernhard Rüb from the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture on Friday.
German farmers have to deal with increased costs for cultivating the fields and cheap competition from abroad.
At the same time, the demand for the sweet, red fruits has fallen.
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Rüb attributes the weak demand to the effects of inflation, among other things: everyday life has become so expensive for people that they do without certain foods - such as buying strawberries.
(lma/dpa)
