In a meeting on September 19th, the Council of Ministers has decided on an aid program for Bavarian fruit producers and vintners whose production was damaged during the frosts in April 2017. After a period of warm weather and an early blossom, two cold nights between the 19th and 21st of April with temperatures of -7°C had severely damaged fruit and wine production areas in Bavaria, but also Baden-Wuerttemberg and other states.
The Minister of Agriculture Helmut Brunner said: "The combination of the early fruit blossom and the frosty nights was devastating. In Bavaria alone, we are expecting losses of around 60 Million Euro on 3,800 hectares. The fruit growers and vintners around Lake Constance and in Franconia were hit especially hard. Even though there were protective measures put in place, some businesses had total losses, for example of their cherry harvest. This situation is threatening their existence and we will not let out producers go through this alone. Even more so, as these kinds of damages would not have been reasonably covered by insurance."
The aid program includes:
- Proven damages will be covered with up to 50 percent and up to 50,000 Euro.
- In particular hardship cases, when the cost of the damages is above 100,000 Euro and the continuation of the business is threatened, 50 percent of the costs will be covered as well. This special grant is limited to 150,000 Euro per applicant.
- Very small businesses whose existence is fundamentally threatened can be compensated for up to 80 percent of the damage.
Requirement in all these cases is that the yields are, due to the frost, at least 30 percent below the average of the last few years.
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com
