Severe weather in early potato area Germany

A tornado has locally caused considerable damage in the German Schwalmtal near Mönchengladbach (in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia). There was also a thunderstorm area with hail, which caused flooding and damage to potato fields.

The area is about 20 minutes from the Dutch border at Roermond (Limburg) and is an important area for the cultivation of early potatoes. Flooded fields are reported by several farmers.

Ferdinand Buffen, director of the German potato trading house Weuthen, reports that the damage caused by the tornado is not too bad in the potato fields. "There has been damage over a track of 500 meters wide. This makes it very localized as far as the early potatoes are concerned." There are sheds where the roofs are off blown.

Especially rain damage
However, the greatest damage was caused by the heavy hailstorms and large amount of precipitation† This was not only the case in the German area, but also in the province of Limburg. In a short time, 30 to 40 millimeters of rain fell in the German area and Limburg. Several potato plots were empty. According to local farmers, a lot of damage has been done locally.

Anne-Jan Doorn

Anne Jan Doorn is an arable expert at Boerenbusiness. He writes about the various arable farming markets and also focuses on the land and energy market.

aj.doorn@boerenbusiness. Nl

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