A bad crop can reduce sugar beet production in France

France's sugar beet production is expected to fall by more than 7 percent in 2022 after a severe summer drought reduced crop yields, and the area planted could fall further next season as farmers switch to more profitable grain crops, beet growers said. According to its estimate for the 2022 season, producer group CGB expects the crop to reach 32 million tons, which is in line with the French Ministry of Agriculture's forecast of 31.94 million tons issued in early November, but well below last year's 34.5 million tons. "We were hoping for a record harvest before the summer, but we will probably end up with less than 80 tons per hectare, which is a huge disappointment" - said Franck Sander, president of CGB, adding that the average sugar content of sugar beet is also low. The average yield in France was 85.7 tonnes per hectare in 2021. According to the CGB, 3.6 million tons of sugar can be produced from the sugar beet crop in the 2022/23 farming season, which is a decrease compared ...