France: Winter sowing 2023, cereals down significantly, rapeseed stable

-7.7% for soft wheat, -6.6% for barley, -7.6% for triticale and -8.3% for durum wheat: these are the sown developments estimated by Agreste in date of February 1, compared to last year. The statistical service of the Ministry of Agriculture points to the bad weather in the fall, with a cumulative increase of 17% compared to the period 1991-2020. “Excess water will involve turning over plots and postponing sowing in favor of spring crops,” Agreste motto. These poor conditions affected the first three producing regions, which saw their areas of soft wheat fall by -8% (Hauts-de-France), -2.1% (Grand-Est) and -5.3% (Centre- Loire valley). All regions are affected by the drop in surface area, the most impacted being Pays de la Loire (-20.4%), Nouvelle-Aquitaine (-14.3%) and Brittany (-11.9% ). Areas of hard winter wheat are estimated at 210,000ha, down -8.3% compared to 2023 and -13.7% compared to the 2019-2023 average. Winter barley areas are estimated at 1.3 Mha, down -6.6% compared ...