Germany’s agricultural businesses have sowed winter crops on 4.8 million hectares of land, a 5.6% increase from the previous year, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Friday. The sowing area for winter crops has grown by 256,900 hectares, the largest since 2018.
Winter crops include winter wheat, winter rye, rye, winter spelt, and Triticale, a wheat-rye cross. Winter wheat, the most widely grown crop in Germany, saw a 12.3% increase, with an area of 2.8 million hectares, the largest since 2019.
The largest increases in absolute terms were seen in Lower Saxony (+71,100 hectares, +25.3%), Bavaria (+51,500 hectares, +11.5%), and Schleswig-Holstein (+31,400 hectares, +27.8%).
Rye and winter spelt saw a slight increase of 2.8% to 550,100 hectares, while Triticale increased by 2.4% to 271,600 hectares. Winter barley, however, saw a decline of 5.4% to 1.2 million hectares.
Winter rapeseed, a winter crop, saw a 2.3% increase to 1.1 million hectares, the largest since 2018.