France is expected to see a sharp drop in winter grain plantings after heavy rain interrupted fieldwork, the Ministry of Agriculture announced, Reuters reports.
In its first estimates of planting for next year’s harvest, the ministry predicted that the country’s soft wheat area for the 2024 harvest will be 4.49 million hectares, down 5.1% from this year’s harvest, and the lowest in four years.
The area under winter barley was recorded at 1.31 million hectares, down 4.0%, although this would be 3.1% higher than the average for the past five years.
As a reminder, potato producers are unable to harvest in some regions of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium due to heavy precipitation that has been going on for several weeks.
The thaw, intense snowmelt, and subsequent rainfall have led to waterlogging of the soil. In low-lying areas on fields with winter crops, meltwater can stagnate, which can turn into ice crust as temperatures drop.
Source: Landlord