French wheat area to fall 11% to lowest since 2000 after rain – Argus
The area sown with soft wheat for the 2024 harvest in France is set to fall to its lowest level since at least 2000 at 4.24 million hectares (mln ha) as two months of heavy rain took their toll on crops, consultancy Argus Media said on Wednesday.
The estimate is down by 530,000 hectares or 11% from the current marketing year’s crop and includes an estimated 54,500 hectares of late planting that farmers are set to sow in the coming days, Argus, which took over the Agritel consultancy, said.
The farm ministry last week already warned of a sharp fall in the sowing of winter cereals after heavy rain disrupted field work in the European Union’s largest grain producer. But it was less pessimistic, projecting the soft wheat area at 4.49 mln ha, down 5.1% from this year’s harvest.
All regions in France are expecting a year-on-year drop in planted areas for soft wheat, Argus said.
The region of Nouvelle Aquitaine in southwestern France suffered the greatest impact after receiving 445 millimetres (mm) of cumulative rainfall over the past two months, leading to a fall in area estimated at 29%.
Soft wheat crop conditions were the best in the northeast of the country, where wheat was sown in early October and able to establish itself before rain set in, the consultancy said.
For rapeseed, Argus estimated the planted area in France at 1.34 mln ha versus 1.35 mln ha last season.
“The rapeseed crop has generally fared much better than winter wheat. That said, crop conditions are worth monitoring, given a particularly low yield recorded in 2020 after a dry spring followed wet weather in the autumn,” it said.
Argus’ estimates are based on feedback from over 1,200 farmers across France collected Dec. 7-14.
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