Biblical Drought Devastates Croatian Farmers
From Slavonia to the Neretva Valley, farmers and fruit growers tally catastrophic losses. Corn yields down 50 percent, sunflowers without oil, and vegetables rotting in temperatures of 40 to 50 degrees.
From Slavonia to the Neretva Valley, farmers and fruit growers tally catastrophic losses. Corn yields down 50 percent, sunflowers without oil, and vegetables rotting in temperatures of 40 to 50 degrees.
Croatian agriculture is in the grip of a drought unlike anything producers can remember. Extreme heat and a lack of rainfall are literally cooking crops in fields across the country. Farmers in Slavonia describe sugar beet turning into jam, silage corn burning up, and sunflower yields signaling dark days for livestock farming and the food industry. The dramatic consequences are also felt on the rivers, the Danube has receded so much that you can almost walk to the Croatian shore.
The situation is most severe in eastern Croatia, where damage to certain crops is one hundred percent. Slavonian farmer Petar Pranjić described apocalyptic scenes from his own fields to Večernji.hr. "If you go into the field now and push your finger into the heart of a sugar beet, you'll find jam. The beet is literally cooked, with one hundred percent damage, and the same goes for soybeans," Pranjić said.
Due to the extreme weather, the silage corn harvest has been moved from early September to early August, something that has never happened before. Pranjić warns that the corn has completely burned up, and yields have been halved. "We've never harvested it earlier in history, and it's all burned due to the extreme temperatures. You get neither quantity nor quality, and yields are certainly 50% lower," Pranjić emphasized, adding that the situation is similar with sunflowers, whose seeds look nice visually but, due to the drought, haven't formed properly and contain no oil. Experiences from neighboring Serbia, where the harvest has already begun, speak of a catastrophic 500 kilograms per hectare, and similar yields are being recorded in Hungary.
"It's as black as it can get; Croatian farmers are sinking like the Titanic," Pranjić concluded, appealing for an immediate postponement of loan repayments for producers. Many fear that reduced yields and increased production costs will inevitably be reflected in the final prices of agricultural products for consumers.
The effects of the drought are also being felt dramatically in livestock farming. Farmer Antun Vrakić, who has to feed 400 head of cattle on his farm, speaks of temperatures of 40 to 50 degrees in the field that scorch the corn and leave the grain soft. Due to the unbearable heat, cows are producing less milk, pastures are destroyed, and the animals lack water. Similar problems have been recorded in poultry farming, where egg production is falling, while freshwater fish ponds are turning into puddles.
Vegetable farming is no better. Vegetable producer Marija Cafuk from Vidovec in Varaždin County explains that peppers are already baked in the field, and potatoes are rotting in the hot soil. "Early-planted potatoes 'escaped the drought' and have size, but the drought prevents them from being preserved in the hot soil. Later, surface varieties of potatoes are also already baked, and they're rotting," Cafuk said.
Although her family farm uses irrigation, she expects damage of between 20 and 30 percent. Cabbage on 15 hectares is being irrigated all night using "rain wings," because during the day, at 40 degrees, you can't run cold water that would put the plant under additional stress. But even that nighttime watering carries risks. "If water from irrigation collects in the leaves and heats up, the cabbage starts to rot," Cafuk explained.
In Međimurje, commercial potato producer Damir Mesarić says that, despite better yields of about 30 percent compared to last year's disaster when damage was 70 percent, working conditions are unbearable. "In this heat, it's like going mining; it's very hard," Mesarić emphasized.
In fruit growing, the biggest challenge is still ahead. Luka Cvitan, manager of the JabukaHR cooperative, warns that mid-season apple varieties like Idared and Jonagold will feel the long-term heat stress the most. "They have more sensitive stems and tolerate prolonged heat stress less well, so we can expect increased premature fruit drop," Cvitan said. He recalled the extreme drought of 2024, when thousands of tons of apples were lost only during storage, which is why the full picture of this year's production will only be known after harvest and several months in cold storage.
In the Neretva Valley, the drought threatens mandarins and olives. Mandarin producer Željko Bjeliš notes that some producers don't have access to quality irrigation water, so the fruit will be small and poor quality. Olives are drawing water from their own fruit, which is drying up and falling off. In mid-August, planting of winter brassicas and strawberries for the next season is supposed to begin, which seems almost impossible under these conditions.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries says it is monitoring the situation on the ground, but so far there have been no drought damage reports in the Damage Registry system. They highlight rain-fed crops as the most vulnerable, primarily corn, sunflowers, soybeans, and sugar beet, as well as vegetable gardens and orchards without irrigation systems. Anomalies have also been observed in vineyards, and livestock production is hampered.
"At this point, it's still too early to provide final estimates of total drought damage, as well as its ultimate impact on production and the agricultural market. Once the extent of the damage and the need for additional assistance to farmers are determined, the Ministry will, based on collected data and an assessment of the situation, consider the possibilities of all available support instruments," the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries concluded.
