The 2024 harvest could be “disastrous”, French grain growers fear

Will the fury of agriculture reawaken? “The ears of wheat looked beautiful from the car. But in the field, many of them were empty or only 40-50% full,” laments Eric Genty, a grain grower in Eure-et-Loire. For him, it is certain that the harvest will be “worse than 2016”, which is often bitterly remembered by farmers.

THE heavy rains since last fall According to the latest report of the statistics department of the Ministry of Agriculture, the areas devoted to soft wheat, the main production of France, thus decreased by 11% compared to 2023. Later, the lack of sunlight prevented the growth of plants. Productivity is bad.

At Éric Genty’s heart of Beauce, an expert recently calculated that his durum wheat would yield 4.2 tonnes from an average of 7.5 hectares, and soft wheat 6 tonnes, compared to the usual 8.5 tonnes.

Along with several representatives of the agricultural world, he received Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau on Monday at his farm in Sainsville to “bring him up to date on the situation” in the European Union’s leading grain producer. Participating farmers spoke of very different situations, with losses of up to 50% in certain areas, with some describing the 2024 crop as “disastrous”.

“A Big Drop”

“For soft wheat, we are usually around 36 million tonnes; Some are mentioning 28, 27 or even 26 million tons for this year, which is a big drop,” stressed Eric Thirouin, president of the General Association of Wheat Producers (AGPB).

Sebastien Poncelet, grain market specialist at Argus Media, notes that rains are still regularly preventing combines from working in the fields, making any predictions difficult. With a little less than half of the wheat still being harvested, “we are waiting to see if the wheat from the next regions recovers a bit,” he explains.

But if the worst-case scenarios are confirmed, the harvest will be the least abundant since the 1980s, he said. At the same time, “even if wheat prices At the same level or higher than in 2016, farmers’ costs have increased a lot,” recalls Sébastien Poncelet.

The government is ready to discuss aid before it can make a decision

If the crop is really bad, the government is ready to activate exceptional relief measures, assured Marc Fesneau. Even if the government only governs current affairs due to the political situation, “we continue to look at the situation, you can activate devices (…), we can start discussions with a certain number of authorities that will be responsible for agricultural issues – and we will see who – is ready for the beginning of the school year,” he said.

Mobilization of crop insurance, tax concession on uncultivated land (TFNB), mobilization of allowance for prudential savings (DEP), deferment of payments from the organization managing farmers’ social security MSA: the ministry is studying several areas. Mark Fesneau also noted that discussions with Brussels have begun to activate the agricultural crisis reserve.

Arnaud Rousseau, head of FNSEA, France’s first agricultural union, gave him a “ten-day appointment”. A warning not to come “empty”.. Arno Russo recalled: “In the life of a peasant, there is a bad harvest, everyone has memories.” “Now we must have enough money to plant (to sow seeds) next year”.

The Village Coordination, for its part, pleaded last week for “a gap year of MSA contributions as well as a gap year at the level of the banks”.

From agricultural crisis, “promises were made and not fulfilled”, such as simplification measures or the agricultural bill, which was suspended by the omission of debate in parliament, emphasized Arnaud Rousseau. Farmers will “think we’ve been fooled once again,” he said, pointing to the “risk of some turning violent.”

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