French Farmers Struggle Amid Worst Wheat Harvest in Decades

Jean Lefevre, a French farmer, faces one of the worst wheat harvests in decades due to relentless rain. France, a key EU grain producer, has seen extensive crop damage and financial strain. Rising costs and a caretaker government compound the crisis, leading to frustration and mental health concerns.

Jean Lefevre, like many French farmers, has just endured one of the worst wheat harvests in decades as rain barely stopped from the moment he started sowing his grain last October to when he began gathering the crop last month. France, the European Union's largest grain producer, has experienced particularly wet weather in the past year, including a month of continuous rain in October and November, the wettest spring ever, and violent storms last month.

The rainy weather and soggy fields delayed sowings and hurt crop development, so much so that the farm ministry estimates France will harvest its worst wheat crop since the 1980s, down 25% from last year. Other cereals, like winter barley, have also been badly hit. "Since October, we have had our feet in the water. We have sown in very complicated conditions, and today we are still harvesting in wet soil again. I have neighbors who got stuck with their harvesters or with their trailers," said Lefevre, who farms in the Oise region of northern France.

Wheat is the most widely grown cereal in France, with about half of it exported either within or outside the EU, aiding the country's trade balance, even as France faces stiff competition from Black Sea countries in recent years. Being a player on the world market, however, exposes France to swings in global prices. While farmers might have hoped to see local prices rise in the face of tight supplies, they actually remained pressured by a global grain glut linked to hefty crops in major producers such as competitor Russia.

Rising production costs since the pandemic - including for equipment, fertilizers, and renting land - have been another problem. Combined with low crop volumes and depressed prices, these factors present a triple whammy for farmers.

"It's all at once, catastrophic crops, low prices, and costs that have never been as high," said Laurent Pollet, who grows crops on 200 hectares of land in the Oise region. Most farmers expressed frustration that the crisis comes as France only has a caretaker government since parliamentary elections last month called by President Emmanuel Macron.

"When both crops and prices are bad, results are catastrophic. Some people will need psychological help, and most of us will need financial support," Lefevre said. "But without a government, it's very complicated. We were already talking to a wall; now we are talking to the wind."

Lefevre joined thousands of farmers who protested earlier this year, blocking major highways around Paris, saying they were not paid enough and were choked by excessive regulation on environmental protection. Wheat growers say the grain crisis is unlikely to trigger new protests, mainly because they don't have time.

"We are harvesting, rapeseed sowing starts in 10 days, then we move on to wheat sowing. We have the beet harvest from mid-September, we are in a tunnel until November 15. So going back to the street is not an objective," said Emeric Duchesne, another grain grower in the Oise.

(With inputs from agencies.)