STORY: Hops and malt – God save! But this year is anything but a good year as far as the hop harvest is concerned. In Wiesenhofen in the district of Eichstätt, the hops are already being plucked diligently. But drought and global crises are causing enormous concern for farmers. The Wiesenhofen hop farmer Werner Krieglmeier expects significant losses: “Well, things are looking rather bad for us this year with the hop harvest. About 50 percent less than last year, although you have to honestly say that we had a record harvest last year. That’s due to it that we are so bad this year because we only had 30 milliliters of rain per square meter in June and July.” A look back: 2021 was the absolute record year – 800 tons of harvest in the Hop Association Spalt. Now 2022, the setback. The association In Upper Bavaria, the hop harvest is only expected to be around 490 tons – but at the same time points out that this can be even lower. It will be difficult for the companies to survive this year economically, says the managing director of the hop growers’ association Spalt, Wolfang Jank And of course the drought also means that we have very high increases in production costs of almost 2,000 euros per hectare. In economic terms, this means that this year will be a catastrophe in hop growing. Our operations are well positioned and will have to compensate in other ways this year. That means through a sideline or through other mainstays or reserves from previous years.” “I always say: double the production costs – half the harvest. And everyone can work out what it means for a business that we probably won’t be in the black this year.” In mid-August, the early varieties are harvested in the Spalt hop region. However, the rain of the past few days came too late for them. It now remains to be seen how the late hop varieties will continue to develop. However, there is no need to worry about the beer – because the hop farmers still have enough stocks from the previous year. But to keep it that way, farmers wish for a few normal harvest years after this disaster harvest.