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Bonn / Münster (dpa / lnw) - In the asparagus fields in North Rhine-Westphalia, the dams for the noble vegetables are currently being built and sheeting is being laid: the asparagus harvest will begin in a few weeks.

Experts expect the first poles to be cut at the end of March and beginning of April.

After a mixed asparagus season in 2020 with a dramatic shortage of harvest workers due to the corona-related entry bans, there is now optimism: "We have positive expectations for the season," says Peter Muß from the Provincial Association of Rhenish Fruit and Vegetable Growers.

The helpers from Poland, Romania and Bulgaria should enter the country without any problems with registration, accommodation lease and current corona test.

Many are already in the factories, reports the expert.

In addition to the asparagus, they are currently also busy cutting fruit trees, planting salads and preparing and repacking stored apples for marketing.

Exact figures on the foreign harvest workers do not exist, according to Muß.

Experts estimate their number across North Rhine-Westphalia to be between 20,000 and 30,000.

In 2020, agricultural associations and the state government sounded the alarm because tens of thousands of harvest workers from Eastern European countries were missing due to the corona pandemic.

The agricultural associations had even called on volunteers and people on short-time work to help cut asparagus with moderate success.

According to preliminary figures from the State Statistical Office IT.NRW, the harvest fell by 16.6 percent from a good 22,300 tons of asparagus in 2019 to a good 18,600 tons - and that with a significant increase in cultivation area to just under 4,200 hectares (previous year 3900).

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Such problems are not to be expected in 2021, says Ralf Grosse gratefully from the Chamber of Agriculture in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The very deep frosts in February would not have bothered the asparagus.

Now it depends on the sun's rays in the next few days.

With good sunshine, the harvest could possibly start as early as the end of March.

Farmer Johannes Nagelschmitz from Bedburg / Erft in the Rheinische Revier is already pretty sure on the market.

He relies on “asparagus with underfloor heating”: thanks to the warm water from the neighboring RWE Hambach open-cast mine, the vegetables are warmed and, in the best case, could even be around 15-20.

March will be ready for harvest, says the farmer - around two weeks earlier than the competition.

The water, which has a temperature of around 25 degrees, is pumped out of the RWE open-cast mine to secure the expansion and, as part of a cooperation between the energy company and the farmer, warms Nagelschmitz's 15 hectares of cultivated land.

The asparagus demand was particularly high in the early days, said Nagelschmitz.

The price could then be around ten euros per kilo.

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Cooperation between farmers in the Rhenish Revier and RWE systems had existed for years.

With the shutdown of power plant units, however, that decreased.

"We are decoupled," said farmer Michael Bong from Bergheim, who had benefited from power plant heat for years.

Now he is trying to use a double film system to hold on to the heat of the sun for his asparagus stalks.

He wants to start picking asparagus around the beginning of April.

His currently needed harvest workers are already there, he said.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210305-99-696482 / 3

Nagelschmitz farm

IT.NRW on the asparagus harvest 2019