Severe water shortage
Is French wheat heading for crop failure again?
For many French farmers, 2016 went down as the worst year on record. The reason for this is the extremely poor wheat harvest. There are also concerns about the 2017 harvest. Rain must fall quickly to help the crop grow.
Philippe Pinta, President of AGPB, the wheat producers' association, is to care† 'On average we see a water shortage of 50 percent, compared to what the plant needs. Normally, that's about 25 percent this time of year. In addition, rain is also needed to dissolve the nitrogen, so that the plant can absorb it.'
Companies financially weak
Wheat crops in France are now starting to change color due to the ongoing drought. Especially now that there is a lot of wind, causing the country to dry out further. Pinta, himself a farmer in the region around Paris, fears that there will be no rain for the next 10 days. '2015 was a year with good yields, but grain prices were too low. In 2016 we were hit by heavy rain and flooding," Pinta explains. 'Many companies are financially weakened after 2 bad years. I wonder how many arable farmers can continue farming when we are faced with a catastrophe for the second time in a row. The regions of Brittany and the Paris Basin (grand Bassin Parisien) have the greatest water shortage. That has now been extended to almost all arable regions.'
Dry winter
The new moon will be in 10 days. The AGPB chairman then hopes for a change in the weather. However, it has been dry for 6 months in a row in northern and central France. The winter had very little precipitation. Other crops are also affected by this, less than half the multi-year average. The situation is not yet catastrophic, but if it stays dry in the coming weeks, it won't be long, Pinta thinks. "We'll know more at the beginning of May." He also fears for the future of companies. Due to poor financial results, not many companies have taken out weather insurance. Last season, about a quarter of the wheat acreage was insured against extreme weather conditions.
Matif negative
Despite the bad news for the French wheat crop, the Matif futures market in Paris cannot be changed. The wheat price shows a downward trend and on Thursday 20 January a closing price of 163,25 euros per tonne was recorded. The stock market is also in the red on Friday 21 April.
8,2
millimetres
Frost damages orchards
French farmers have also had to deal with frost this week. This has little effect on the cereal crops. For crops, such as sugar beet and chicory, the situation is more worrying. The regions of Champagne, Burgundy and the Loire Valley in particular had to deal with temperatures as low as -6 degrees. French winegrowers have their hands in their hair. Vineyards are expected to be widely affected, with yield losses of between 40 and 50 percent. The first two weeks of April were very mild. The temperature was 2 degrees above the multi-year average, Météo-France calculates. April got off to a very mild start.
On average, over April, there has been an average of 8,2 millimeters of rain in all of France so far. Some monitoring stations did not get more than 5 mm of rain. This puts April 2017 in fourth place in the books in terms of precipitation deficit.
Snow in Eastern Europe
Other Eastern European countries have more to do with the winter weather. In Ukraine and Russia, for example, snow fell in many regions, while the spring sowing of cereals is in full swing. Romania was also treated to a lot of snow. The Ukrainian agriculture minister says in a statement that the crop yield is not affected by this.
Market not reacting to Black Sea weather news, this is central Russia this morning, that might change. pic.twitter.com/GTowT4pO4f
— Mike Lee (@AgronomyUkraine) April 19, 2017
@jelendu89 Partout des conditions froides & difficiles pendant les floraisons. Ce matin, à l'Est de la Roumanie... #colza sous la neige. pic.twitter.com/1i1WBYtXFt
— Alexandra Cadet (@alexandra_cadet) April 20, 2017
Niels van der Boom
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