France: Farmers making swift progress in sowing winter wheat and barley

French farmers have almost finished harvesting this year's drought-affected maize crop and are making swift progress in sowing winter wheat and barley, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on October 14.

Farmers had gathered 83% of this year's grain maize crop by Oct. 10, compared with 67% a week earlier and only 14% in the same week last year, FranceAgriMer said in a cereal report.

The harvest remained 28 days ahead of last year's pace and 18 days ahead of the five-year average, it said.

Harvesting started early in late August after an exceptionally hot and dry summer accelerated plant growth.


The harsh weather also stressed crops and is expected to lead to the smallest French maize harvest in three decades.

Soft wheat sowing for next year's harvest accelerated, with 21% of the expected area drilled by Monday, compared with 3% a week earlier and 11% a year ago, FranceAgriMer said.

For winter barley, 37% of the expected crop area had been sown, compared with 8% a week earlier and 22% a year ago.

Dry and mild weather has helped field work since late September, though the return of rain this week could slow progress.

Farmers are also concerned that fuel shortages resulting from oil refinery strikes in France could disrupt sowing and harvesting.

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