Area under winter wheat in France will amount to 4.51 million ha

The French Ministry of Agriculture has given the first estimate of sown areas for the next calendar year’s grain harvest. Soft winter wheat is expected to be sown on 4.51 million hectares. This is 8.7% more than the area sown for this year’s harvest and 0.8% less than the five-year average. The area under winter barley is estimated at 1.23 million hectares (-0.8% compared to this year), under winter rape – 1.34 million hectares (+0.6%). Winter durum may be sown 206 thousand hectares, 1.9% less than for the current year’s crop, and this is the minimum for three decades, writes Reuters. Wheat and rapeseed are almost exclusively winter crops in France, while barley is largely a spring crop as well. Meanwhile, the ministry strongly raised its forecast for corn production this year, including for seed replenishment, to 15 million tons, up from 14.62 million tons from its November forecast. The estimate is 15.5% higher than last year’s harvest amid a sharp increase in sown areas. For ...