The Reed Harvest
When due to wind and frost the dry canes have lost all their leaves, the reed is ready to be harvested. Frost is indeed a big help for the harvest: Once the damp soil or the water are frozen, the reed areas are easily accessible on foot or with the harvester.
In the past the reed was harvested using sickles or scythes, a method that can still be found today. A skilled reed cutter can harvest and tie between 15 and 20 bundles per hour.
Nowadays, however, harvesting machines are the common choice. The mowing machine allows to cut the reed in rows and can be operated by just two people.
In larger marshland or lake areas also Saiga harvesters with balloon tyres are being employed to reap the reed stalks. These amphibious vehicles have the advantage of preserving the soil and the subterranean part of the reed – the rhizome – by reducing the pressure applied on them.
After cutting the reed, the stalks are gathered into bundles of 1.2 m length. Shaking and combing them out cleans them from the residues of leaves and plants as well as from too short stalks. By butting the bundles on the ground the stalks become flush with each other, so that they can be tied together to bundles of 60 cm diameter with help of a band and an iron ring.
Then the reed bundles are left outdoors, piled up in pyramids. This form allows the rain to run off and helps the wind to dry the reed and to carry away the remaining leaves.
When the harvest is over, the individual reed bundles are packed to packages of 50 or 100 and made ready for transport.
Guidelines for the reed harvest in Germany illustrated by the example of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
A special authorisation is required in order to make economic use of reed fields situated in German nature reserves. Such official exemptions are issued on the basis of the relevant regulations of the individual nature reserve. If there is, for instance, the danger to destroy the habitat of specially protected species, the economic usage may be severely restricted or even completely prohibited. Also, outside of nature reserves, the utilisation of reed areas has to satisfy the principles of nature conservancy in order to avoid an interference in the habitat of species worth protecting.
The involvement of a nature protection organisation is required in the process of applying for a special authorisation with the appropriate authorities. The authorities granting the concession have to take into consideration legal regulations concerning habitat and species protection. The commercial utilisation is not licensable if it comes into conflict with regulations for the protection of species or wildlife conservation programmes (ยง 20 Abs. 1 LNatG M-V).
Applications for the commercial utilisation of a reed field are to be filed eight weeks in advance with the respective nature conservation authority. Harvesting reed is allowed only from the first of November to the first of May. Within nature reserves 50% of the older reed has to be preserved, anywhere else these areas should at least amount to 30%.
Harvesters and transport vehicles should not exceed the contact pressure per unit area of up to 100 g/m2. The reed bundles should be bound using organic materials, and the residues of the combing process are to be disposed of according to the regulations of the appropriate nature conservancy authority.
Why Our Reed Comes From Abroad
In Germany reed growing areas are on the wane and they are only made use of as sidelines. (For instance, in 1922, the reed areas to the west of the Weser were 46.2% larger than they are today.) The crop yield of the reed harvest cannot by far satisfy the demand from house builders and thatchers, which leads to an increased import of reed.
Abroad also the labour costs are lesser, thus encouraging the import of reed. The harvest is costly in terms of labour and ties up time and manpower. Most reed is being imported, as the costs of carriage are lower than the difference between labour costs in Germany and abroad.
The strict provisions regulating the harvest go hand in hand with economic interests:
Harvesting at regular intervals leads to an increase in the quantity and quality of the reed. For thatching preferably one year old reed is used, which in contrast to older reed is less stiff and brittle. A too intense harvesting activity might cause damage to the crop or the soil, as well as disrupt the birds commonly nesting in the reed (as for example the little bittern, the marsh harrier, the savi's warbler, the sedge warbler or the great reed warbler) in reducing their breeding area.
