The beautiful weather also makes the asparagus farmers happy: the warmth allows the stalk vegetables to sprout. In the Abensberg growing region in the Kelheim district of Lower Bavaria, they were therefore able to officially start the season a little earlier this year. State Parliament President Ilse Aigner (CSU) opened the season there on Saturday in bright sunshine – and appealed to consumers to consume local asparagus, as the chairwoman of the Abensberger quality asparagus producers’ association, Petra Högl, reported. “It’s perfect weather for royal vegetables,” commented Högl, Kelheim CSU member of the state parliament, about the perfect weather.
In the largest Bavarian wine-growing region, Schrobenhausen, things are set to officially start in a few days. “We are assuming a good harvest, provided the weather cooperates,” says the managing director of the Southern Bavaria Asparagus Producers Association, Peter Strobl. The asparagus was already growing well in the fall. The shoots of asparagus are eaten as a vegetable; the plant is then allowed to grow after the end of the season and creates energy reserves from which growth can be fed again in the new season.
The Franconian Asparagus Producers Association also praises the good conditions for this year’s harvest – after there was more rain in the winter. With the current warm weather at the start of the season – like southern Bavaria, the Franconians officially start this Wednesday – things will now “really get going in terms of quantity,” expects managing director Patrick Scharl. Petra Högl from the Abensberger quality asparagus producers’ association speaks of an optimal spring for asparagus. Local asparagus got off to a good start over Easter – including in the catering industry. When it comes to prices, all three expect a development similar to the previous year’s level – perhaps slightly higher – but also emphasize that a lot depends on the weather and therefore the current harvest volumes. If it is too warm for too long, there could be an oversupply and falling prices, fear farmers, who, according to Strobl, are definitely under cost pressure. There is also a seasonal development: prices are often a little higher at the beginning before they then fall a little, as Strobl also confirms. How much a pound of asparagus ultimately costs depends on whether you buy it from the grocery store or from the farm or stand, how demand balances out with the harvest, and which category of stalk vegetables you choose.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the largest Bavarian growing area is in Upper Bavaria and Swabia, around Schrobenhausen, which also includes Pfaffenhofen, Neuburg an der Donau, Pörnbach and Aichach-Friedberg. Around half of Bavaria’s asparagus is produced there. Behind it is the Gäuboden around Abensberg in Lower Bavaria with around 20 percent of the cultivated area. In Franconia, asparagus is planted primarily in the Main area around Volkach, Kitzingen and Münsterschwarzach as well as in Knoblauchsland in the Nuremberg-Fürth-Erlangen triangle.