Red alarm level: Zikade threatens potato harvest in Baden-Württemberg!

Red alarm level: Zikade threatens potato harvest in Baden-Württemberg!

Sachsen-Anhalt, Deutschland - There are worrying news from agriculture: a highly dangerous plant disease threatens crops in Germany, especially sugar beet and potatoes. This threat is caused by the reeds glass-wing culinary cicade (pentastritidius leporinus), which occurs as a carrier of the bacterium Candidatus Phytoplasma Solani. The current situation, which first appeared in Baden-Württemberg, is now spreading and has now also reached Rhineland-Palatinate, Bavaria and Hesse. The cicada even spread to the north of Germany, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. According to Merkur, the Ministry of Agriculture in Stuttgart describes this development as a "serious threat" for care with domestic potatoes, vegetables and sugar.

In the affected regions, farmers report alarming earnings and quality losses. The President of the German Farmers' Association, Joachim Rukwied, expressed his "very great concerns" about the rapid spread of the cicade and urgently demands effective control measures. The crop failures are significant: in 2024 producers in relevant beet growing areas in southwestern Germany loss of up to 25 percent loss. In the potato cultivation, there were sometimes even declines of up to 70 percent. Umwelt expert Isabell Pergner from the State Farmers' Association makes it clear that the continued existence of the extension is in question in some companies.

transmission and spread of the zikade

What are the causes of the rapid spread of the reed glass floral culinary cicade? According to the BMEL, it is a small flying insect, the nymphs overwinter in the ground and contribute to the transfer of the diseases by sucking in crops and roots of winter cultures. The adult cicadas will fly into the host plant stocks from May and are particularly active in warm early summer and summer, which is favored by climate change.

In the past cultivation season, infections were registered on 85,000 hectares and 22,000 hectares of potatoes in Germany. The zicade spreads quickly and can now be found in almost all federal states. The consequences are dramatic: infected plants show wither appearance, roots and tubers become rubber -like, which not only leads to significant reduction in yield, but also affects the taste of the harvest. In this way, potatoes with soft tubers or signs of putrefaction cannot get on the market.

urgent need for action

The calls are becoming more and more louder after effective crop protection measures. With the increase in crop failures, the economic pressure on entire regions becomes visible. According to the Tagesschau there is an urgent need to regulate effective pesticides regularly and to promote research on resistance breeding and combat strategies. However, since the extermination of these invasive cicada types is practically impossible, the farmers have no choice but to check the current strategies to combat the zikade.

Currently there are no regularly approved funds to combat these pests, only emergency registrations for some pesticides have been granted for 120 days. The situation remains tense, and farmers have to consider alternative strategies to protect their cultures. Whether this is possible through crop rotation, cropping measures or other innovative approaches is in the stars - a solution has to be found quickly to prevent future crop failures.

The developments related to the reed glass wing zikade once again show how vulnerable agricultural production is and what challenges our farmers look at. It remains to be hoped that effective solutions will be found in order to continue to secure healthy and profitable harvests in the future.