Grain sowing area in France to decrease by 7%

According to the French Ministry of Agriculture, the area sown for grain crops for the 2024 harvest will be reduced to 6.81 million hectares, down 6.8% year-on-year, despite the expected expansion of spring crops. The sowing area of soft wheat will be reduced by 7.7% to 4.39 million hectares.

Due to heavy rainfall since mid-October 2023, the area under winter soft wheat was reduced by 7.7% to 4.34 million hectares, under winter durum wheat – by 6.4% to 0.22 million hectares, under winter barley – by 6.1% to 1.28 million hectares.

Part of the areas that farmers were unable to sow during the fall sowing season will be sown with spring barley. The French Ministry of Agriculture forecasts that the area under spring barley will increase to 0.5 million hectares (+10.7% compared to last year), under spring soft wheat – 0.02 million hectares (+6.4%).

The area under leguminous crops this year will decrease by 4.3% to 0.27 mln ha, including peas – by 5.6% to 0.19 mln ha.

Tags: grain, France