Dry topsoil across Germany could impact crop yields following March dry spell – researchers
Clean Energy Wire
Topsoil across much of Germany is significantly drier than usual for the beginning of April which could impact crop yields, with some of the driest springtime conditions since records began, according to data from the drought monitor at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ). The topsoil, the upper 30 centimetres of soil, was particularly dry across the north German lowlands and around the western low German mountains.
March 2025 was among the driest on record, receiving less than one third of the monthly average rainfall observed between 1991 and 2020, according to the German Weather Service (DWD). Outside of agricultural areas, the DWD projects a “medium” risk of forest fires across large parts of the country, with the risk level at “high” in some parts of the south.
“If sufficient precipitation does fall soon, substantial losses are not to be expected,” said Til Feike, senior scientist from the Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants in Kleinmachnow. He explained that while the topsoil is relatively dry, the deeper soil layers still contain enough water that “the winter crops such as winter wheat, winter barley and winter rye […] do not suffer from the exceptional dryness in the topsoil on most areas, as they can tap into water that is still present in deeper soil layers.”
Dry springtime periods can negatively impact or delay plant growth. At the same time, prolonged or heavy rain is also problematic, as it prevents soils from aerating and makes plants ripe for pest infestation, said Dorothea Bartels from the Institute of Molecular Physiology and Biotechnology of Plants (IMBIO) at the Rheinische Freidrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn.
Grain harvests are also at risk in Central and Eastern Europe after following an “extremely dry” winter. Europe is warming faster than anywhere else in the world as climate change intensifies, with temperatures increasing at more than twice the global average over the past 30 years. In addition to heatwaves, climate change is also causing many other extreme weather events to become more frequent and more severe. Persistent low levels of rainfall are becoming more common and, when the rain does come, it is frequently in prolonged downpours, causing flooding. Fires are also becoming more intense and more common.
