More artificial irrigation and the breeding of new varieties that can cope better with drought: this is how the state government wants to secure hop production in Bavaria in the future. “The weather has shown us once again that climate change and its effects are becoming more and more noticeable for our farmers. And we also see that hop fields with irrigation are by no means as badly developed as without. Irrigation is therefore an essential building block for security our hop production,” said Minister of Agriculture Michaela Kaniber (CSU) at the official start of the hop harvest on Wednesday in Wolnzach (district of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm).
Another building block is the breeding of drought-resistant, healthy and high-yielding varieties. “The effects of climate change with long periods of heat and drought endanger supply security. The 2022 harvest shows that it is not possible without water,” said the German Hop Industry Association. Currently, however, the proportion of irrigable hop areas in Germany is very low due to official requirements. “As a result, the competitiveness of the Bavarian and German hop-growing regions is increasingly restricted.”
As the ministry also announced, experts are expecting a below-average Bavarian hop harvest of around 33,000 tons this year due to the drought. Most of the Bavarian hops, 32,500 tons, come from the Hallertau, while around 500 tons come from the Spalt growing region in Central Franconia.