According to current data, 80 percent of the French corn crop was in good or excellent condition in the week ending September 4, down from 82 percent the previous week. This comes just as harvesting in the European Union’s largest cereal producer gets underway, according to the FranceAgriMer agricultural agency.
However, this is a very good score compared to 44 percent a year earlier, when corn was hit by a severe drought. French farmers had harvested 1 percent of this year’s corn crop by 4 September, down from 5 percent last year but in line with the five-year average. The spring barley harvest is now complete, as is the autumn crop.
EU yields could be lower
The European Union’s crop monitoring service MARS recently lowered its forecast for average yields of wheat, maize and rapeseed in the EU this year for the third consecutive month, warning of a significant drop in wheat quality after the summer rains.
Between mid-July and the end of August, almost daily rainfall in north-west France, south-west Germany and the Benelux regions severely hampered the harvest of crops, particularly wheat and rapeseed, while creating optimal conditions for fungal diseases.
The rains around harvest are expected to have a “significant impact on the quality of cereals, especially wheat” and will lead to a “significant reduction” in the amount of wheat produced in these areas, MARS said.
The impact on crops was difficult to assess, with forecasts based on the assumption that rain would have a minor impact on yields at a national level.
Warm weather in southern Europe is a major concern for farmers in Bulgaria, Italy and Spain.
In its outlook, the MARS service lowered its wheat yield estimate to 5.78 tonnes per hectare (t/ha) from 5.80 t/ha expected last month, now just below last year’s 5.79 t/ha, the international agricultural press reported, citing the UK news agency Thomson Reuters.
Maize yields were also cut to 7.45 t/ha from 7.53 t/ha in July, 26% higher than last year’s drought-hit harvest but in line with the five-year average. The 2023 barley yield estimate was left unchanged at 4.74 t/ha.
Source: Agroforum
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