Large areas of Germany’s farmland are being decimated by plagues of field mice leading to significant crop loss. In some parts of the country, a quarter of the arable land is affected. Farmers said field mice had been tunnelling under the fields and gnawing at the roots of crops for months, with the neighbouring regions of Thuringia, Saxony Anhalt and Lower Saxony the worst hit. In the central state of Thuringia, as much as a quarter of the crops are affected, with damage estimated at around €450 (£407) for every hectare of wheat. Farmers’ representatives have estimated that two-thirds of their income will be lost as a result and many said they have had to buy in extra animal feed.
Across Germany, the effects of climate change, a succession of dry summers and mild winters have enabled the mice to thrive, leaving an estimated 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres) stripped bare by the rodents and now browning in the current heatwave. Both environmentalists and farmers agree what would be ideal is a harsh winter with ground frost, followed by heavy rain, both of which have been rare in recent years.
One option is to leave their fields unsown for winter to try to starve the field mice. Farmers could plough up the ground, but that adds to the dry conditions and can have a detrimental effect on the subsequent sowing season.
Some farmers say the use of rodenticides could keep the population of field mice under control. Julia Klöckner, the agricultural minister, has called for an emergency reappraisal of laws governing rodenticides to cope with what she has called an emergency situation.
Joachim Rukwied, the president of the German Farmers’ Association, welcomed Klöckner’s initiative. “The farmers must be given the possibility to protect their harvest with appropriate measures,” he said. “Right now environmental restrictions are preventing an effective control of the mouse population.”
But environmentalists say that endangered species, such as hamsters, hares, birch mice and migratory birds, risk being killed off as a result.
Magnus Wessel, of the Association for the Protection of the Environment and Nature, said poison was not a solution. “The side effects would be enormous,” he told German media. “Not only would it kill off the field mice, but also the highly endangered common hamster. Birds which ingest the poison would also die.”
It would be more effective, he suggested, to overhaul Germany’s agricultural management, including developing a more diverse landscape with hedges and smaller fields, which offer a natural habitat for birds of prey and other mice predators, such as foxes. Animal welfare groups are calling instead, for a ban on fox hunting because the animals, which each consume between 3,000 and 5,000 mice a year, could help control the population. Hunters kill an estimated 400,000 foxes in Germany every year.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/13/plagues-of-field-mice-decimating-crops-say-german-farmers
Across Germany, the effects of climate change, a succession of dry summers and mild winters have enabled the mice to thrive, leaving an estimated 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres) stripped bare by the rodents and now browning in the current heatwave. Both environmentalists and farmers agree what would be ideal is a harsh winter with ground frost, followed by heavy rain, both of which have been rare in recent years.
One option is to leave their fields unsown for winter to try to starve the field mice. Farmers could plough up the ground, but that adds to the dry conditions and can have a detrimental effect on the subsequent sowing season.
Some farmers say the use of rodenticides could keep the population of field mice under control. Julia Klöckner, the agricultural minister, has called for an emergency reappraisal of laws governing rodenticides to cope with what she has called an emergency situation.
Joachim Rukwied, the president of the German Farmers’ Association, welcomed Klöckner’s initiative. “The farmers must be given the possibility to protect their harvest with appropriate measures,” he said. “Right now environmental restrictions are preventing an effective control of the mouse population.”
But environmentalists say that endangered species, such as hamsters, hares, birch mice and migratory birds, risk being killed off as a result.
Magnus Wessel, of the Association for the Protection of the Environment and Nature, said poison was not a solution. “The side effects would be enormous,” he told German media. “Not only would it kill off the field mice, but also the highly endangered common hamster. Birds which ingest the poison would also die.”
It would be more effective, he suggested, to overhaul Germany’s agricultural management, including developing a more diverse landscape with hedges and smaller fields, which offer a natural habitat for birds of prey and other mice predators, such as foxes. Animal welfare groups are calling instead, for a ban on fox hunting because the animals, which each consume between 3,000 and 5,000 mice a year, could help control the population. Hunters kill an estimated 400,000 foxes in Germany every year.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/13/plagues-of-field-mice-decimating-crops-say-german-farmers
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