Melons grown in Germany - Bavarian farmer takes on heat loving fruit as weather pattern change

Record ID: 1736428

  • Title: Melons grown in Germany - Bavarian farmer takes on heat loving fruit as weather pattern change
  • Date: 3rd August 2023
  • Summary: ADELSHOFEN, GERMANY (AUGUST 3, 2023) (REUTERS) DRONE SHOTS OF GERMAN FARMER JOHANNES DITTERT WALKING THROUGH FIELD WITH MELONS DITTERT LIFTING COVER PROTECTING MELONS DRONE SHOT OF DITTERT HARVESTING MELON DITTERT HARVESTING MELONS DRONE SHOT OF DITTERT HARVESTING MELON VARIOUS VARIETIES OF MELONS IN BOX DITTERT PUSHING BOX WITH MELONS DRONE SHOT OF DITTERT PUSHING BOX WITH MELONS DRONE SHOT OF FIELD WHERE MELONS ARE GROWN TIME-LAPSE OF DITTERT TAKING CARE OF MELONS DITTERT HARVESTING MELON (SOUNDBITE) (German) FARMER JOHANNES DITTERT, SAYING: "But anything above 30 degrees is no advantage for the melons, sometimes what they need is heat, but for them it is enough to be warm all the time. And the problem for us are the nights, especially in spring, they are still very cool and the melons don't grow with any temperature below twelve degrees. Then they get a cold shock and stop growing, and then it takes time for them to grow again. And of course that's all time we lose, where of course that's not a problem in the southern countries since the nights are warm there too." VARIOUS VARIETIES OF MELON (SOUNDBITE) (German) FARMER JOHANNES DITTERT, SAYING: "When we started in 2017 it was just a hobby, it was a quarter of the current cultivation area or even less, and it was really trial and error, just a hobby, and marketing was not so good either. Unfortunately we already had a lot of waste, we fed the cows with it and currently we also grow maize, wheat, rapeseed, whatever else grows on the fields and we also have potatoes and pumpkins. But potatoes, pumpkins, that all went along with the melon, that is simply a follow-up business after the melons which are now half of the farm." VARIOUS OF MELONS (SOUNDBITE) (German) FARMER JOHANNES DITTERT, SAYING: "Exotic things are difficult. Anything that has to be overwintered, such as trees, bananas and so on, is difficult for us because the frost in winter is so bad. Annual plants, such as melons or peanuts, I try those a bit every year, but it's not yet succeeding. But maybe it will." VARIOUS OF DITTERT HARVESTING MELON MELON DITTERT WALKING THROUGH MELON FIELD (SOUNDBITE) (German) FARMER JOHANNES DITTERT, WHILE HARVESTING MELON, SAYING: "Here we have the red watermelons, the Mini Love variety. That's one of the best-known varieties, and there are many varieties of it, it's just a red-fleshed watermelon." DRONE SHOT OF MELON FIELD MELONS (SOUNDBITE) (German) FARMER JOHANNES DITTERT, WHILE SHOWING MELON, SAYING: "They look more like a cucumber from the leaves, it looks like a gourd or a pumpkin and they are still really green. And when they ripen, they turn yellow. And you can't do much wrong when you harvest them, because they're really nice and yellow and especially when you smell them, they smell really sweet." MELONS VARIOUS OF DITTERT WALKING THROUGH MELON FIELD MELON FIELD VARIOUS DITTERT PUTTING MELONS INTO STALL TO SELL THEM SIGN ON WATERMELON "WATERMELON RED, WEIGHT 3.012 KG. PRICE 2.20 EURO/KG. SUM: 6.63 EURO." DITTERT PUTTING MELONS INTO STALL DITTERT LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 17th August 2023 16:23
  • Keywords: climate change farming germany melons watermelons weather
  • Location: ADELSHOFEN, GERMANY
  • City: ADELSHOFEN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Climate Adaptation and Solution,Climate Change,Environment,Europe,General News
  • Reuters ID: LVA001193803082023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Sine 2017 German farmer Johannes Dittert has been growing melons in Adelshofen, a small municipality in Southern Germany near Munich. Having gotten the idea from a friend, Dittert said it first started as a "hobby". Now he is cultivating various types of melons in two tunnels with a length of 100 metres (320 feet) each, making up half of the plants on his farm. Every year he tries different types of melons, this year's variety being red and yellow watermelons, cantaloupe melons and galia melons.
    With the plants taking 60 to 90 days from bloom to harvest, Dittert says that the cold spring nights are especially a problem but other than that, a constant temperature below thirty degrees, which can be seen in Southern Germany, works well for melons.
    Most of his melons are sold from a stall at his farm with Dittert also delivering melons to local restaurants and other shops in the area.
    (Production: Ayhan Uyanik, Louisa Off, Lena Toepler, Anna Dittrich) 
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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