Polish Agriculture Minister - Grain Harvests Down 20% From 05 On Drought

[hatrack]

Polish Agriculture Minister Andrzej Lepper warned on Monday that a drought caused by baking summer temperatures would cut Poland's cereal harvest by 20.0 percent.

"The situation is already dramatic. And if the weather doesn't change, it will be a real tragedy," Lepper, who is also a deputy prime minister, told public radio station Jedynka.

Compared to last year, "the harvest from cereals (sown in autumn) will be reduced by up to 35 percent, that of cereals sown in spring up to 90 percent reduced in certain areas. On average the harvest will be down by 20 percent", Lepper said. Northern Poland was most affected, but the drought was also causing problems across the country, he added.

Poland is the third-biggest wheat producer in the European Union, which it joined in 2004, after France and Germany. Last year Poland produced some 27 million tonnes of wheat.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2006/060724130136.wd9zb8s1.html

[villager]

1. when do we stop wasting grain on the commerical production of meat?

n/t