The hops actually like wet feet and a warm head, ”says Andreas Dick.
The hop farmer would have gladly done without so much water.
The flood of the century in the Eifel destroyed most of its fields and facilities.
Only four out of twenty-two hectares got away without damage, he says.
"In some fields there are holes where you can throw a car into them."
Bernd Freytag
Business correspondent Rhein-Neckar-Saar based in Mainz.
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Dick is the only hop grower in Rhineland-Palatinate, and he delivers his entire harvest to the neighboring Bitburger brewery.
It has been like that since the 1970s, he says.
But since Bitburger, the largest draft beer supplier in Germany, changed its advertising - away from football and towards home and regionality - Dick has played a special role.
"Refined with Bitburger seal hops" has been the promise ever since.
So part of the hops in every glass of Bitburger should come from Dick's fields.
"My father's life's work was over overnight"
Most of the Bitburger hops come from the Hallertau, the largest hop growing area in the world between Ingolstadt and Munich. Dick estimates that it contributes around ten percent of the hops requirement from the Eifel. The brewery usually buys the hops for two or three years in advance and then stores them dry in the form of pressed pellets. A bottleneck in beer is therefore not to be expected.
He received a lot of help and encouragement from the “Bitburger family company” during the crisis. He once trained as a brewer himself at the brewery before he took over his parents' business in Holsthum. Bitburger helped him after the flood and sent apprentices, the neighboring winemaker and Bitburger heir Roman Niewodniczanski also organized helpers. Hop farmer colleagues from Hallertau, Tettnang and Elbe-Saale also helped to secure the facilities. The solidarity in the crisis was great, he says. "Nobody asked for money or my account number."
The first few days after the flood he was not able to take care of the facilities anyway. He and his machines were needed in the village itself, he says. Dick was lucky: his house and the premises were not flooded by the Prüm, only the agricultural area. Nevertheless: “My father's life's work was over overnight.” He says that floods can actually be dealt with in the southern Eifel. But nobody foresaw the force of this flood. "Masts that weigh a ton with three-meter-deep anchors have simply been washed away."
If the country's promised aid actually flows, he therefore wants to change something, “cut the fields differently”, as he says.
Specifically, cultivate less hops and instead open up floodplains.
"We took aerial photos immediately after the flood, where you could clearly see the course of the current." A reconstruction as before after looking at the pictures is irresponsible.
Reimbursement of up to 80 percent of the eligible costs
Especially in river curves you have to leave buffer zones free for the water in order to reduce the flow velocity. The main problem was not the floods, but the breakneck speed and the large amount of rubbish and debris that was carried away. The large pastures actually set against the flooding would have exacerbated the problem. They tipped over and "raced through town like an express train," blocking entire streets and bridges with their broad roots.
The brewery was reluctant to take up his idea at first, but is now behind it, even if it means that fewer hops can be grown. Giving back land to the river is also sustainable, he says. According to Dick, no aid has yet flowed from the country. But politics is making an effort. According to the state government in Rhineland-Palatinate, 65,000 people are affected. The country has 15 billion euros from the national reconstruction fund available for aid and reconstruction.
The affected farmers and entrepreneurs can submit their aid requests from Monday. According to the state government, “damage to areas including growth and damage removal” will be taken over. In addition, damage to company buildings, machines, supplies and, if in doubt, also to animals. The aim is to offset the cost of repair and restoration or the loss of market value.
Up to 80 percent of the eligible costs would be reimbursed, promises the state government, "in hardship cases up to 100 percent". Dick thinks 80 percent is “absolutely okay”. His problem is the quoted market value, he says. Like many of the affected winegrowers, he has already written off a number of machines and systems, so the market value is theoretically zero. But used machines are almost impossible to get. Twenty-year-old scaffolding systems for the up to eight-meter-high hops are, in his words, “with a book value of one euro, but the new cost 35,000 euros per hectare”.
As requested by the country, the farmer has now commissioned an expert to record the damage.
If he had to invest another million euros with just outside capital, then rebuilding would be difficult, he says.
The systems are insured against hail and storms, but flood insurance has not been offered for a long time, he says.
Therefore, the introduction of compulsory insurance is now urgently needed.
After the reconstruction, according to Dick, it will take three years until the first harvest.
The state government has promised to help quickly and unbureaucratically.