The weather in Europe has changed considerably in the past month. In Western and Northern Europe, drought takes the upper hand after a wet spring, while in the south of Europe there is heavy precipitation after a long period of drought and heat. In both cases, the crops suffer from the weather.
Many arable farmers have experienced delays in sowing and planting crops due to the wet and relatively cold spring. The month of April was the wettest April in 25 years. This was not very different with our southern and eastern neighbors. There too, agricultural work was hampered by rainfall, which means that some of the spring crops are now lagging behind compared to other years. The dry weather that has set in is preventing the crop from catching up in several regions.
Last year France had the driest year on record. This spring was wetter than normal. An example is the message from the French growers' group CGB, which reported that sugar beet yields may be lower due to later sowing. German sugar producer Nordzucker also reported to the Reuters news agency that sugar beets are lagging behind and that the summer weather must be very favorable to catch up. But just like in the Netherlands, it has been dry in these countries for a long time and the mercury is also starting to rise seriously.
Heavy precipitation in Southern Europe
The high-pressure areas have been in the northern part of Europe for some time and that explains the drier period at the moment. The border from high to low pressure areas has been around the Alps for a while. In the south of Europe it is the other way around, where precipitation and thunderstorms ravage the fields after a long period of drought. The southern regions in France, such as the Pyrenees, also experience heavy rainfall.
While Spain was the driest April ever recorded in April, certain regions such as Catalonia, Valencia, Aragon and Andalusia have been experiencing extreme downpours for several weeks now. Arable farmers are relieved by the precipitation, but it also caused problems locally. In addition, the soils were often very hard and the millimeters fell in a short time, making it difficult for water to penetrate the soil. There is also damage to crops in some cases.
This does not mean that precipitation has fallen everywhere and certainly not enough to replenish the water reservoirs. Total rainfall this year is well below the long- and medium-term average. Only the northern coastal areas in Spain experience higher rainfall on average.
Another fact is that the precipitation came too late for many crops. The grain harvest is already underway and almost ready and the yields are quite disappointing, reports the Andalusian arable network RAIF. The high temperatures and drought in March and April and the lack of rain accelerated the ripening process and subsequently the crop did not grow well. They assume a decline of 60% in yields compared to the 2022 harvest.
The precipitation has also spread to other southern European countries such as Portugal, Italy and Greece. In Italy, this even led to flooding in higher areas at the end of May. There too, 2022 was one of the driest years ever. Even until last April it was still exceptionally dry there. Currently, the southern European countries still have a lot of precipitation and this will continue in the coming week, according to the weather forecast from various European weather stations.