Will the Beetle Bean become a rarity? Market leader Styrian Power expects up to 80 percent crop loss and talks about the “worst year of all the time” for the styric crop. Some farmers are already experimenting with the Asian edamame.
“A Historical Low”, “The Harvest has never been so bad”: there is a crisis for the styric beetle bean producers. Raphael Eitljörg from St. Ruprecht One of the Raab builds on 75 hectares. “We are used to that the weather can sometimes be a challenge, but this year the beetle bean has really destroyed it.”
The extreme weather, which is fed by climate change, is the fault for this year. While the flower was suffering from the summer heat, later rain caused problems with ripening and harvest. Andreas Cretnik and Gerhard Merdonik, board members of the Styrian Alwera Group, who includes “Styrian Kraft”: “Never before have the challenges of the extreme been so massive again.
100 instead of 88 kilograms per hectare
One of the 120 contract farmers is the Vegetable Troop company Janisch in Großsteinbach. Denise and Matthias Janisch have been breeding beetle beans on ten hectares in ILZ, in the Feistritztal and in Vulkanland for more than 20 years. “We have to pick many lazy beetle beans. The moisture has damaged enormously. It was probably the worst season of all time, “they say.
If about 750 to 800 kilograms of bean beans were recently harvested per hectare, it was “only 100 kilograms, sometimes even less,” explains Denise Janisch.
Does the bean have an expiry date?
Janisch hopes that this year the year had run away. “But in general we already notice that climatic changes will permanently adjust the cultures.” That is why the family business recently added Edamame to the portfolio. “This special soy comes from East Asia and is therefore mainly adapted to warmer climate conditions.”
Raphael Eitljörg is also forced to test alternatives. “Bear beans are part of our identity – but if circumstances do not change, we must rely on other, more resistant plants in the medium term.”
Given climate change, Dominic Bauer from Riegersburg even fears the end of the styric cultural heritage: “The cheese soles of the weather make the bevery beans massive – when it continues, the culture threatens to die.”
Prices will rise
However, a styric power tries to work with the Gleisdorf Satisty on more resistant, heat -resistant varieties. For this year, however, the bad harvest tends to increase prices.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
