EU experiencing lower crop yields
The yield forecast for almost all crops in the EU has been adjusted downwards. This is evident from the latest edition of the EU’s Mars Bulletin.
The average yield of common wheat in the EU is estimated at 5.68 tonnes per hectare. The average yield of potatoes is expected to be 35.1 tons, that of sugar beets to 73.4 tons per hectare. Sugar beet is one of the few crops that is forecast to yield more than the 5-year average.
Rainfall
The poor performance of winter grains (particularly soft wheat and winter barley) is mainly the result of the heavy rain that hit large parts of Western and Northern Europe.
Frequent rainfall, although less extreme, also hampered harvests in northern France, the Benelux countries and north-west Germany, where farmers have already suffered from overly wet conditions for most of the season.
High temperatures
The downward revision of the yield forecast for summer crops (particularly grain, maize and sunflowers) is mainly due to the exceptionally high temperatures that occurred in most of southern, central and eastern Europe. These crops were particularly affected in regions where warm conditions coincided with limited water availability, as was often the case in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.
