Austria

Low Rainfall Cuts Austrian Crop Yields
Reuters, July 12, 2000

Unusually dry and hot weather has taken its toll on the Austrian harvest but the quality of wheat is looking good, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture's research institute said on Wednesday. “We will not see the high yields of the last years,” the official told Reuters. “But we are satisfied with the quality of wheat.” The official said below-average rainfall from March to mid-June had reduced yields of all grains in eastern Austria, while crops in the west had seen more rain and yields would be average. “For Austrian conditions, this is serious,” he said. Yields for summer grains would be below those of 1993, the last year when the harvest was so disappointing.