Heavy rains are jeopardizing the harvest in Germany, Joachim Rukwied, head of the German Farmers’ Association said on Monday.

The grain harvest is predicted to come in at 42 million tons, slightly below last year’s result, Rukwied explained during a farm visit in Frankfurt.

Warm and moist conditions were promoting rot in the potato crop, with the result that harvests could fail in the absence of pesticides, he said.

Rukwied said that pesticides were needed, given flooding and waterlogging. “In combination with rising temperatures, the risk of fungal infestation is rising sharply in many crops,” he added.

Farmers needed a broad range of agents to maintain plant resistance, while fewer pesticides and agricultural substances were available in Germany, Rukwied said.

Wet conditions in the autumn hit the sowing plans of many farmers in low-lying regions, with the result that the areas planted with winter wheat and rapeseed declined.

Sowing was often postponed to the spring, with the result that the area sown to summer wheat almost tripled to 100,000 hectares.

Nevertheless, winter wheat, with 2.6 million hectares sown, remains the most important grain crop in Germany by far, followed by winter barley at 1.3 million hectares.