Drought: Ritter fears disaster

For months, there was very little rain in most parts of the country. The massive deficit of rainfall causes considerable damage to crops, especially in eastern Switzerland. These do not grow anymore or fade. Farmers are threatened with massive financial losses. In addition, they must buy food for their cattle or slaughter animals.

With each hot and clear day, the situation worsens. And other regions like Schaffhausen, Zurich, Central Switzerland and the Swiss Plateau are also increasingly affected by drought.

The yield of food is over

Markus Ritter, president of the Swiss Farmers Association, worries a lot, as he says in an interview with Radio SRF: "In good weather, we like it. The extreme drought is the problem. Not only does this become a difficult situation, but it could become a disaster. "

Ritter builds himself in Altstätten SG in the Rhine Valley, which is particularly hard hit.In mountain areas, there is no food, everywhere it is steep, open spaces are brown, says the organic farmer.He is expecting that there will be more food production in the coming weeks.

Corn and Potatoes

Since it remained virtually free of rain during the weekend, heat and wind damage is likely to increase rapidly. "Nothing will grow on the meadows and grasslands, "warns Ritter, but not only the grass, but also the maize suffers massively.On sandy soils, it begins to dry, he says.And the potatoes would form the next generation because of heat and drought.

Detailed weather information can be found s here

Because of the water flowing in small and medium water bodies, water withdrawals are restricted or even prohibited. "This poses a risk, especially for sensitive special crops, and the damage increases very rapidly," says Markus Ritter at Radio SRF

. Are your fields also affected by drought? Which cultures suffer the most? Send us your photos to [email protected]. Do not forget the name and place

Unhappy communication

Tuesday, the media office of the Swiss Farmers Union is said unhappy with the situation because of the drought. Although it is very dry in the east of the country. But overall, there is little reason to complain: "This sounds surprisingly good because we had enough water in April. This means, for example, harvesting hay or silage in the spring, which is fine. That's why we are not yet in a desperate situation, "said Sandra Helfenstein at Radio SRF

Most growers are now well prepared for drought." These are now professional companies, the most of them also equipped for irrigation. It's just a cost factor if they have to water a lot, "she continued. These statements led farmers to the palm. The farmers' association and Sandra Helfenstein are obviously not well informed. The offices of Brugg are just conditioned, so the tenor. Contributions to the SBV have been called into question

Helfenstein regrets the declaration

Sandra Helfenstein very much regrets the unilateral presentation in the report on request of schweizerbauer.ch and stresses that not all are in the radio report The declarations have been reproduced. For example, that the situation is very different from one region to the other. And it had become too clear that she was referring to their statements about the current situation and the consequences so far.

Already on July 20, farmers in Graubünden highlighted the difficult situation. They called for a tariff reduction for feed to limit costs for farmers. The farmers' association has not thought much about this idea. "The forage harvest in spring was excellent, it is not as dry as anywhere in southeastern Switzerland," Sanda Helfenstein said at the time. is not a problem, she told the newspaper "Südostschweiz"

. "Mrs. Helfenstein should have an idea of ​​the precarious situation before making such comments," commented schweizerbauer .ch the statement of the spokesperson of the media