Sunday, 2 September 2018

Environment

Drought in Germany

In Germany, record temperatures and no rainfall since early April have led to a drought and thousands of farms are facing bankruptcy because of crop failure.

This week, the government pledged $390 million in federal and state aid, but for many farmers, it's not enough. Many of the country's farmers are starting to question whether they can cope with climate change. More than 10,000 farms are facing financial ruin, dairy farmers are slaughtering cows because there's not enough feed for them and while the national average grain shortfall this year is 26 percent, in some areas arable farmers have lost up to 70 percent of their grain crops.

Breweries are worried about a poor barley yield and have warned that the shortfall will be reflected in the price of that other German staple, beer.

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