The Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture has estimated that approximately 15 billion Forints of damages have been caused by the unseasonal winter floods, almost all of which have affected arable land.

On Wednesday, the Chamber reported that the floodwaters destroyed more than 200,000 hectares of winter plantings, while rendering 740,000 hectares so wet that it is unlikely that anything will grow there in the next few months.

According to their calculations, the floods will also cost the public hundreds of million of forints for the extra work needed to return the fields to a workable condition.  These costs will cover tilling and ploughing, among other tasks.

While one million hectares is a very large figure, what has the Chamber of Agriculture so worried is that these fields make up more than 22% of all agricultural land in Hungary. Besides affected farmers, many of whom face bankruptcy if they have just one bad season, there will be knock-on effects that trickle down to the consumer.

If the Hungarian farmer produces a lower yield of crops, then consumers and stores wil lbe forced to import more stock from abroad.  This is likely to be more expensive and will cause costs to rise across the board.

However, the news is not all bad.  While the short term outlook is a poor one, in the long term the flooding is likely to improve the soil structure of the fields and will allow for a higher yield of crops in the following years.

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