Overview
- Local farm leaders reported on Monday that maize plants on many fields never formed kernels, prompting unusually early emergency harvests to salvage what remains for silage.
- Farmers are already selling or slaughtering cattle and pigs because stored feed and fresh hay have run short, with several producers saying they have used winter feed early or must buy scarce hay from other regions.
- Impact varies by soil and region but farm representatives expect severe losses in the worst spots, with some estimating yield shortfalls above 50 percent on sandy or upland parcels.
- Producer groups are pressing for rapid, low‑bureaucracy measures such as advance EU direct‑payment disbursements, state‑backed liquidity loans, suspension of social‑insurance payments and tax relief to cover fixed costs.
- Falling groundwater levels and low uptake of affordable drought insurance increase systemic risk to farms and to related sectors like biogas and regional hay markets, and authorities say final action will depend on harvest damage assessments at the end of August.