Growing asparagus has been a lucrative business for farmers in Hesse in recent years.

As soon as the "white gold" shot out of the fields in spring, customers came and were willing to pay high prices for the seasonal vegetables.

In many Hessian households, asparagus was a fixed part of the menu in May and June.

But this year, many consumers leave the asparagus lying around, be it in the supermarket or at the stand of the grower next door.

Some farmers speak of a drop in sales of 30 percent, on average the minus should be a good fifth.

Many asparagus fields are therefore even fallow, and many a farmer is considering growing corn or sunflowers there in the future.

At the same time, farmers are left with strawberries.

The Hessian Farmers' Association complains that cultivation can hardly cover the costs for local producers because customers are no longer willing to pay the previous prices.

In addition, the costs for farmers have increased enormously in recent months, for example for fertilizer and pesticides.

The fall in the price of asparagus and strawberries reflects consumers' fears of war and the future.

While the inflation rate is initially just an anonymous statistic, there are more and more places where people feel inflation directly in their own wallets: at the gas station, on the electricity bill, in restaurants.

This does not apply to the purchase of asparagus and strawberries because their prices have fallen.

However, because many people cannot do without energy or the car (and thus without petrol) or only to a limited extent and want to save as little as possible on vacation, they reduce other expenses.

The choice often falls on so-called luxury goods – products that are not absolutely necessary.

Asparagus, strawberries, but also expensive beef, for example, are part of it.

Even if the renunciation of noble products can be dramatic for the producers concerned, there is an even bigger problem hidden behind it.

Because if you put a different vegetable in the supermarket instead of asparagus in the shopping cart, you don't have to worry about not getting full.

But inflation is likely to manifest this fear in many households.

A concept is therefore urgently needed to prepare people for a permanent price increase.

And very targeted help for consumers whose existence is actually at stake.