Harvest - Less cereals on Thuringian fields
For this year's Harvest in Thuringia, less wheat is growing on the fields. According to preliminary results, farmers in the Free State ordered 336,300 hectares of wheat for grain production, as the Statistical Office reported. This is 6,300 hectares or two percent less than the previous year.
In particular, there was a significant decrease of eleven percent in the most common crop - winter wheat. Winter wheat is therefore still growing on 167,900 hectares (2023: 188,200 hectares). The cultivation of oil seeds such as winter rapeseed also decreased by eight percent.
According to the statistics, there are 603,400 hectares of arable land in Thuringia. Around 24,900 hectares or four percent have been idled and thus 8,200 hectares more than in 2023. As a prerequisite for subsidies, the EU wanted to obligate farmers to leave four percent of their arable land fallow each year until 2027. However, this regulation was withdrawn in the spring due to farmers' protests.
Despite the decrease in wheat production, the total arable land in Erfurt, Thuringia, still amounts to 603,400 hectares. The farmers in this region have seen a decline in the cultivation of grain, specifically wheat, with a decrease of 6,300 hectares in the Harvest of 2024 compared to the previous year. This decrease in Nutrition-providing crops underscores the challenges faced by Agriculture in Thuringia.
