Together, hail the heavy rains caused severe damage. The hilling of potatoes was washed away; young fruit, vegetables and winter barley were damaged.
Storms with heavy rain, hail and gale-force winds have caused agriculture millions of Euros in losses. So far 87,000 hectares of damage has been reported. This represents approximately 24,000 individual fields, which were apprised by experts or will be assessed in the next few days. The estimated damage currently amounts to at least 30 million Euro. The damage affected all crops, especially cereal, rape, beans, corn and beets, strawberries, top fruit, stone fruit, and other soft fruit and vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce, spinach, as well as grapes and hops.
Photo: Damage due to heavy rains
Source: Farmers and Winegrowers Association South Rhineland-Palatinate
70 to 80% of the German farmers have hail insurance but the amount of farmers with insurance against storms is lower. So many farmers have to pay the water damages themselves. The media reported on the complaints of the victims and the call for more assistance was clear. In the last 10 years many agricultural crops, with some exceptions, can be insured against heavy rains as a part of a multi-hazard insurance. Until three years ago this additional protection was subject to a higher tax, nowadays this additional tax is no longer imposed.