The French Ministry of Agriculture, in its June report, predicts an increase in winter barley and rapeseed production in the country in 2022 through an expansion in acreage that could compensate for the decline in yields due to the drought.
In particular, in its first crop forecast for 2022/23, the French Ministry of Agriculture predicts a harvest of Winter barley at 8,25 million tons (+ 0,4% per year), winter oilseed rape at 3,87 million tons (+17,8%).
At the same time, the experts lowered the forecast for the area under cultivation Wheat to 4,76 million hectares versus 4,8 million hectares according to a preliminary forecast, which is also 4,5 percent below last year's value.
The area under the sunflower in France is estimated by experts at 797 thousand hectares, which is significantly higher than the previous estimate (758 thousand hectares) and represents a record high in the history of observations. The expansion of the acreage under the oilseed was due to the lower production cost of growing it compared to other crops due to the increased cost of fertilizers and energy sources.
The cultivated areas below Corn the experts have reduced slightly – to 1,36 million hectares compared to 1,37 million hectares according to the preliminary estimate (-7% per year).