Heat, parched soils and significantly smaller hop cones: for many hop farmers in Austria this year's harvest is proving sobering. The Mühlviertel, one of the country's most important hop-growing regions, is particularly hard hit.
"The heat and the drought have taken a heavy toll on us. Some of my plants are completely ruined," says Stefan Hofer, chair of the Mühlviertel hop growers' co-operative, speaking to ORF.
