Thanks to higher temperatures, asparagus lovers can hope for falling prices towards the end of the season.
The market is now adequately supplied with asparagus, said the asparagus cultivation advisor at the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture, Ralf Große Dankbar, according to a message from the Association of South German Asparagus and Strawberry Growers (VSSE) on Thursday.
“Due to the higher quantities, there are also offers for asparagus shopping here and there.” The asparagus season traditionally ends on June 24th.
But some growers ended the harvest this coming weekend, as announced by the VSSE in Bruchsal.
The demand was a little more restrained than last year.
"A feel-good atmosphere was missing in April and May"
"The feel-good atmosphere was missing in April and May, so that the asparagus appetite was not spurred on by the weather as usual," said the deputy division manager and asparagus market expert at Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH, Michael Koch.
Because the harvest volumes also fell due to the weather, the prices were on average 8 percent higher than the previous year's values.
There are different classes of asparagus.
Lower prices are charged for fragments or discolored heads, for example.
Despite the second season under corona conditions, there were hardly any problems, it said at the VSSE.
Harvest helpers could have entered.
The company's infection protection concepts were successful, said board spokesman Simon Schumacher.
Only in a few exceptional cases would people have been infected.
According to the information, the VSSE is Germany's largest association for asparagus and strawberry growers with 650 members. According to the information, the number of asparagus farms has been falling for years, to 1598 last year. In 2020, asparagus was grown on almost 25,900 hectares in Germany.