Rain disrupts French melon production (and lowers prices)

Like every year, the essential melon is invited to summer tables. For the time being, the season is nevertheless looking mixed for French production, disrupted by excessive rains in recent months. According to estimates from the Ministry of Agriculture, France should produce 280,500 tons of melons in 2024, a figure down 10% compared to the previous year. A little over 320,000 tons of melons had been picked on French soil in 2023. Like cereals, whose soft wheat harvest could be one of the lowest in the last forty years, melon crops have suffered from poor weather conditions over the season. Excessive rain, lack of sunshine and low temperatures in spring have disrupted pollination, plant growth and fruit set (i.e. the start of the development of the young fruit), as well as increased the spread of diseases. As a result, crop yields are lower from one year to the next in the three main French production basins* – in addition to a slight decrease in cultivated areas (-2% compared to ...