Staud’s bosses: “Apricots in eastern Austria have partially shriveled up”

DELIVERY MAN: The jam conflict is over. How happy are you about that?

Stefan Schauer: We have always been the jam things from Ottakring. In the 70s we had Grandma’s apricot jam, which then became the Grandma Staud line. We have now freshly relabeled them. From apricot jam finely strained to apricot jam finely strained. And everyone is happy.

How fast were you with that?

Schauer: On day one after the regulation comes into force (June 14, note).

Was there any feedback from customers about this?

Schauer: I think it was played up in the media more than it is important for consumers. But it’s nice that this product is so emotional.

In an interview you said that apricot jam is now a luxury item. To what extent?

Schauer: This is certainly relevant to the price issue – how much can a jar of jam cost? We are all so price-driven that it shouldn’t cost anything. But that is exactly the wrong approach. Food is valuable goods. If we in Austria want to continue to have high-quality cultivation, primary production, processing with social and environmental standards, then products must also have a certain price. Otherwise we have to produce under different conditions in a low-wage country. But we also have a responsibility for employees and farmers in the fields.

What is the security of supply of fruit and vegetables in Austria?

Jürgen Hagenauer: We already manage to source more than half of the raw products from Austria. This is a great achievement, but also a great challenge to motivate farmers to maintain this primary production.

In June, temperatures hit the 40 degree mark, with one heat wave following the next. What does this mean for the harvest?

Hagenauer: These extreme temperatures are of course the biggest challenge for primary producers when it comes to keeping stocks alive. We all know how important water is as a resource. But the effort you have to put in to achieve this is still very underrated. The harvesting process is also more difficult – at such temperatures it is 50 degrees in the field. The situation at the end of June was close to the limit.

Schauer: But it seems to be becoming a reality, so the highest respect goes to the farmers who grow and cultivate fruit. That is the big challenge of the future, how we can deal with it. Irrigation must be guaranteed, otherwise it will be difficult.

What do farmers tell you about how they deal with freak weather like this?

Schauer: Yesterday a raspberry farmer from the Weinviertel called me and said: The raspberries are spoiled, they have been burned by the sun. It’s in total failure and there’s almost nothing you can do about it. You could possibly consider shading, but when the temperatures are so high, the plants will suffer even without direct sunlight. Some of the apricots in eastern Austria have shriveled up. You only have a core with skin.

How worried are you this year about how the fruit and vegetable harvest will go?

Schauer: When it comes to fruit, the apricot harvest is in full swing and there is also zero to one hundred percent frost damage. There are no longer any years that go smoothly. I would like that for the future. A normal year.