By July 29, French farmers had harvested 67% of this year’s soft wheat crop, a significant increase from 41% the previous week. However, this progress remains well behind the typical pace due to ongoing rain that has disrupted fieldwork, according to data from FranceAgriMer.
The heavy rainfall has raised concerns about the quality of the milling wheat, with producers and traders anticipating one of the smallest wheat crops in decades. Last year, by the same date, farmers had harvested 86% of the crop, and the five-year average is 84%.
Despite a brief hot spell at the beginning of the week that may have allowed for more harvesting, subsequent storms brought additional rain, further complicating efforts. FranceAgriMer reported that only 50% of the soft wheat is currently in good or excellent condition, which is stable from the previous week but represents the lowest rating for this time of year since 2016.
The winter barley harvest is nearly complete, with 99% cut, while durum wheat and spring barley are 88% and 54% complete, respectively. Additionally, the condition of grain maize has slightly declined, with the good/excellent rating falling to 79%.