Winter wheat areas in France expand sharply

The French Ministry of Agriculture has reported its initial estimate for the area planted with autumn crops in France. Soft wheat planting has seen a notable increase of 8.7% from the previous year, covering 4.51 million hectares. Despite this, it still falls 0.8% short of the five-year average. There are, however, decreases in the planting areas for durum wheat, down by 1.9% to 206 thousand hectares, and autumn barley, down by 0.8% to 1.23 million hectares. On the other hand, the planting area for autumn rapeseed is expected to grow by 0.6% to 1.34 million hectares. Furthermore, the ministry has revised its 2024 corn harvest forecast, including that for seed production, to 15 million tons, up from the previous forecast of 14.62 million tons, marking a significant 15.5% increase from the previous year.

The French Ministry of Agriculture has announced its first estimate of the area sown with autumn crops in the country, according to a statement on the official website of the ministry. Soft wheat has been sown on 8.7% more areas than last year, namely 4.51 million hectares. If the estimate is confirmed, the area sown with soft wheat will remain 0.8% below the average for the last 5 years. However, durum wheat is expected to shrink by 1.9% to 206 thousand hectares, which would be the smallest area in the last 30 years. The area sown with autumn barley is also shrinking, although by 0.8% compared to last year to 1.23 million hectares. However, the estimate for autumn rapeseed is for an expansion of the area sown in France by 0.6% to 1.34 million hectares. ...