Market prices stagnated while costs rose sharply, not least due to the geopolitical situation in the wake of the Iran conflict. "This is toxic," said BWGV President Ulrich Theileis when presenting the annual balance sheet. Fuel and minimum wage for seasonal workers burden The significantly more expensive fuel is not only needed for field work machinery such as tractors, but also for the transport of harvested fruit and vegetables - a big problem for producers, as he emphasized. The reduction of the energy tax is an important first step towards their relief, more steps must follow. Besides these growing expenses, it is above all the continuously rising minimum wage that burdens the businesses. Especially in fruit, vegetable, and wine growing, wage costs due to the high proportion of manual work make up to 60 percent of total production costs, Theileis emphasized. He called for an allowance on the minimum wage for generally unskilled agricultural seasonal workers. The fertilizer ...