German 2023 wheat and rapeseed crops forecast to fall

Germany’s 2023 wheat crop is expected to fall 2.3% on the year to 22.01 million tonnes, the country’s association of farm cooperatives DRV said in its first harvest estimate on Wednesday. The association forecast Germany’s 2023 winter rapeseed crop is seen declining 1.1% from last summer’s crop to 4.23 million tonnes. The main reasons for the expected fall include reduced planted area with increased competition for land for other uses and rising weather risks due to the impact of climate change, the association said. Germany is the European Union’s second largest wheat producer after France and in many years the EU’s largest producer of rapeseed, Europe’s main oilseed for edible oil and biodiesel production. German farmers are estimated to have cut wheat sowings for harvesting this summer by 2.5% on the year to 2.89 million hectares, it said. The country is losing about 30,000 hectares of agricultural land annually to housing and road building while increasing areas of farmland ...