It tends to be the time of the year when the meadows greened, the crops germinate and the air is filled by aroma of blossoming trees and shrubs. But in Liebenwalde, about 35 kilometres north of Berlin on the east German countryside, there was no vegetation. A fine-grained light brown sand desert, stretching out as far as the eye can reach.
Only a couple of dandelions and a few single blades of grass have fought his way up through the rolling sand dunes. You can almost imagine how some bedouins come wandering through the desert landscape, which unsurprisingly is called ”Germany’s Sahara”.
Image 1 of 2 A desert of fine sand spread out over the meadows to the north of Berlin. Photo: Lina Lund Slide 2 of 2 A desert of fine sand spread out over the meadows to the north of Berlin. Photo: Lina Lund Slideshow
early to Germany and has been both warmer and drier than normal. In what would usually constitute Berlin’s breadbasket, it has scarcely fallen any rain at all in the last month. The fields are already bronzed, there is a major fire hazard and around the region of raging forest fires.
The vast expanse of sandy desert arose after strong gusts of wind swept with sand from, inter alia, parched fields and meadows in the area. Videos that captured the sandstorm in the movie shows a powerful natural phenomena, which otherwise is common in the desert areas. Similar storms during the spring it was also reported from other parts of Germany, where, among other things, led to road traffic accidents caused due to drivers lost visibility.
For accommodation in the vicinity is growing concern that the sandy desert a first indication of how the landscapes around here can come out to see if the drought continues. For the farmers it is a direct threat to their livsnäring. A few kilometres to the west looks mjölkbonden Beate Stuht out over the meadows where the cows trampling around in search of fresh grass to eat. The quest becomes all the more desperate.
Image 1 of 2 Mjölkbonden Beate Stuht is worried about what her cows eat if the drought continues. Photo: Lina Lund Slide 2 of 2 Mjölkbonden Beate Stuht is worried about what her cows eat if the drought continues. Photo: Lina Lund Slideshow
“the Situation is worse now than what it use to be at the end of August,” she says.
She measure with the hand on the hip and say that the rye this time of year usually have the plant about one metre high. Now similar to the field, a dry lake bed. Cracks in the intorkade the mud to form a playful pattern in the bronzed ground.
– the Cows have already eaten up most of the grass, and nothing new grows in this drought. If it does not start raining soon, I don’t know what they should eat, ” she says.
as each eats about 40 kilos of crops on the day. The bull – which weighs around a ton – puts in much more. So far, the cows can be fed with the crops stored from last year, but stocks start their and soon the situation becomes acute. To buy in feed from elsewhere or let irrigate the fields is too expensive. Beate Stuht pointing to some animal chewing on the straw in the lack of anything.
Cows graze of last year’s crops, the last of the layer. Photo: Lina Lund
– It is not very good. They don’t grow as they should. Hay would be much better, but we simply have nothing left to give them, ” she says of last summer fresh in our memory.
– the Option is to sell animals or send them to slaughter.
and the driest since German meteorologists started measuring temperatures and precipitation. In the wake of the extreme weather conditions followed the forest fires, rivers torrlades, fish massdog, and the farmers saw their harvest to wipe off. Many hoped that it would take a hundred years to the next extremsommar. But in the week warned the German väderinstitutet, DWD, for this summer you can become even drier.
“the Situation we have now is in many parts of Germany even worse than what we had last year,” says Udo Busch at DWD to the newspaper Die Zeit.
the Warnings applies in all areas here in eastern Germany, which was hit hard by the drought, even in the last year. The next few weeks is expected to be crucial. Already in april is the highest fire risk and around in Germany fighting the emergency services violent forest fires. In Thuringia, in central Germany has a forest area of 13 hectares burned up, and in Hesse, it took 400 firefighters to put out another forest fire.
the Grass in the pasture is usually a meter high this time of year, ” says the farmer Beate Stuht. Photo: Lina Lund
Germany’s farmers dread another summer of ruined harvests and emergency slaughtered animals. Beate Stuht has been a dairy farmer for 20 years and plans to soon let the daughter take over the business. But if it should be possible to feed in agriculture also in the future it is better able to adapt to long dry periods, she believes. A few years ago, testing her employees to grow crops designed to withstand heat and drought better.
– the Plants with roots that reach deeper down in the soil have been proven to work better than the usual crops in such weather conditions, ” she says.
Image 1 of 2 A cow looks out of the barn, where it sought protection from the sun’s hot rays. Photo: Lina Lund Slide 2 of 2 Some cows seeking shade in the barn. Photo: Lina Lund Slideshow
Perhaps new technology can help farmers to cope with the extreme weather conditions better for the animals is the heat a plague. In order to escape the hot sun breeds the majority of dairy cows inside the barn where there is nice shade.
– They thrive best when it’s eight degrees, ” says Stuht.
the Outside shows the thermometer at 28 degrees in april.
the Sand on the meadow which turned into a sandy desert burn between the fingers.
