France expects increase in corn harvest
The production of corn in France is estimated to reach nearly 14.2 million tonnes this season.
That would be 12.1% more than last year and also 9.1% above the average over the previous 5 seasons, the latest estimates of the agricultural statistical bureau Agreste show.
How is corn harvest increased?
The increase in the corn harvest is solely the result of a massive increase in the area of corn grown, from 1.232 thousand hectares last year to 1.538 thousand hectares in the current season, an increase of over 300,000 hectares or almost 25%. In contrast, the yield per hectare is significantly down from 10.3 tonnes to 92.4 tonnes.
Impact of bad weather conditions
For corn, as for all other crops in France, the season is very much delayed due to the unfavourable weather conditions during both the seeding period and the harvest itself, Agreste notices. For that reason and because of the still unknown effects of recently bad weather and inundations caused by the remains of hurricane Kirk in Europe, harvest figures for corn can still change, Agreste warns.
Fodder corn
The harvest of fodder corn in France this summer is estimated to come in at around 16,16 tonnes, 7.2% lower than in 2023 but still half a percentage over the 5 years average for that crop.
Wheat production lowest in 40 years
Agreste further lowered its estimates for the production of wheat even further. It now predicts a total harvest of 25.4 million tonnes, some 0.4 million tonnes of soft wheat less than what was estimated a month earlier. That would mean a decrease of over 27% compared to last years´ wheat harvest.
As Agreste said earlier, 2024 wheat production is the lowest in 40 years. The average yield proves to be particularly low at just 6.1 tonnes per hectare compared to 7.37 tonnes per hectare a year ago.
Barley: 20% lower y-o-y
The same goes for barley with an average yield of 5.42 tonnes per hectare compared to 6.77 tonnes in 2023, resulting in a total production of 9.8 million tonnes which is over 20% lower year-over-year.
The figures for wheat align with those for the European Union as a whole, statistics quoted by Agreste show. The total production of wheat in the EU 27 is predicted to reach 113.7 million tonnes, almost 13 million tonnes less than in the previous season. However, for barley, the EU harvest is estimated at just under 50.3 million tonnes compared to almost 47.6 million tonnes a year ago.
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