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WEATHER

Danish agriculture loses millions to drought

While many people in Denmark have been grateful for the warm summer, farmers have suffered due to the long dry spell.

Danish agriculture loses millions to drought
Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

With the country’s agricultural sector set see losses amounting to millions of kroner, representatives from agricultural associations from across the country will meet on Thursday to discuss the issue, the Danish Agriculture & Food Council said in a press statement.

Expected losses due the summer drought will be presented at the meeting.

Minister for Food and the Environment Jakob Ellemann-Jensen will also be present.

Ellemann-Jensen last month suggested he would consider political relief to farmers threatened by drought-related losses.

“There is no doubt that many farmers have been hit hard by the drought,” he said.

“A lot is at stake for individual farmers, which is why we are open to suggestions as to how we can help the agriculture sector in this unusual situation,” he added.

The Danish Agriculture & Food Council has already called for support in tackling the problem, which it has estimated to carry potential losses of 4.5 billion kroner to the sector.

Losses are related to early harvesting of crops and a very poor expected overall harvest result.

Organic farmers have already received some assistance in the form of allowances for reducing roughage quotas without losing organic status in order to more easily feed livestock that normally eat grass.

That measure was approved in July by the government, Danish People’s Party and Social Democrats.

READ ALSO: Denmark considers political relief for drought-hit farmers

WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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