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Drought cuts Austria's cereal harvest by 18.4%
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Environment & Climate

Drought cuts Austria's cereal harvest by 18.4%

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Context piece
  • Austria's cereal harvest has been severely impacted by heat and drought, resulting in an 18.4% decrease compared to 2025 and a 12% drop from the five-year average.
  • Despite the reduced harvest, sufficient grain is available for bread and flour production, though corn collection is still pending.
  • The drought has also affected livestock farmers in the Alps, potentially leading to insufficient winter fodder reserves.

Austria's cereal harvest has suffered significantly due to prolonged heat and drought conditions this season. The public agro-food agency AMA reported that the 2026 cereal harvest is 18.4% lower than in 2025 and 12% below the average of the past five years. This reduction is attributed to the extreme weather patterns that have dominated the agricultural landscape.

The heat and prolonged periods of drought have profoundly marked the 2026 cereal harvest.

— Günter GriesmayrPresident of AMA, commenting on the impact of weather conditions on the harvest.

Despite the diminished yield, AMA assures that there is enough grain available to meet the demand for bread, flour, and other bakery products. The total estimated production, including corn which is yet to be collected, is projected at 4.5 million tons. However, excluding corn, the harvest yielded 2.5 million tons, marking a 19.0% decrease from the strong harvest of the previous year and a 14.4% shortfall compared to the historical average.

Günter Griesmayr, president of AMA, stated in a press release, "The heat and prolonged periods of drought have profoundly marked the 2026 cereal harvest." Official data indicates that precipitation in Austria has been 27% below the historical average for the first six months of the year. Wheat yields have seen the most significant drop at 22.7%, with corn expected to be 17.6% lower.

The meadows are partly scorched and in the high mountain pastures of Tyrol (in the west of the country) water scarcity predominates.

— Josef HechenbergerPresident of the Tyrolean Chamber of Agriculture, describing the drought's effect on pastures.

The drought's impact extends beyond cereal crops. In the Alps, the dry conditions and the need to move livestock down from mountain pastures earlier than usual raise concerns about insufficient fodder reserves for the winter. Some regions, including Styria, Carinthia, and Upper Austria, are already forced to dip into their winter reserves. Josef Hechenberger, president of the Tyrolean Chamber of Agriculture, expressed concern that livestock farmers' food supplies are threatened, noting that mountain pastures are largely parched and water scarcity is prevalent in the Tyrolean Alps.

The food reserves of the livestock farmers are threatened.

— Josef HechenbergerExpressing concern about the availability of fodder for livestock due to the drought.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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