German farmers are increasingly planting soybeans in response to recurring droughts, with cultivation expanding by nearly 157 per cent from 2016 to 2024, the Federal Statistical Office said on Tuesday, August 19, 2025.
In 2024, around 4,500 farms cultivated soybeans on a total of 40,500 hectares.
In 2016, the first year the crop was tracked, the number was around 2,400 farms and just under 15,800 hectares.
By comparison, wheat remained vastly more dominant, with about 2.6 million hectares under cultivation in 2024.
Soybeans are considered resilient to dry conditions and can be processed into oil and animal feed.
Farmers have also expanded the acreage that can be irrigated during dry spells.
It noted that between 2009 and 2022, irrigable land increased by nearly a quarter, reaching 791,800 hectares.
That figure still represented only 4.8per cent of Germany’s total farmland.