France: Winter Crop Yields Fell During 2006/07; 
Year-to-Year Corn Area Continues to Decrease

Much of the information in this report was obtained during crop travel by staff of PECAD and FAS-Paris during the first week of August 2006.  Also included are crop travel pictures taken in southwest France.

Crop Condition Assessment

French Rapeseed
The primary oilseed in France is rapeseed (average production 3.6 million tons), followed by sunflowerseed (1.5 million), and distantly by soybeans (0.2 million). The largely contracted rapeseed crop is concentrated in France’s northern jurisdictions (departments), from the Paris region northward. While valuable for food, industrial applications, and as the main ingredient in biofuels, it is also a vital part of the crop rotation, breaking up wheat plantings. Rape is the first crop planted in the new season, drilled into the ground from late August until the beginning of September.  French rapeseed area devoted to industrial and biodiesel use is below half the amount sown for food use.  With the European Union's (EU) biofuels mandate directing 5.75 percent of all transport fuels to be comprised of biofuels by 2010, planted area is expected to continue increasing.  Thus, the trend will continue to be more towards industrial/biodiesel dominance while food usage will likely remain flat.  French oilseed experts expect in a few years 500,000 hectares will be dedicated to food use, while the bulk of the crop or 1.1 to 1.2 million hectares will go to industrial/biodiesel use.  This area increase would represent the expected maximum limit of area available to rapeseed in France.  The switch toward more non-food rapeseed area is very common in Europe; in fact, this is the second year that the EU has seeded more rapeseed for non-food use than for food use. The high price for extracted oil and the relatively low price for unprocessed oilseeds indicate the need for increased crushing capacity. During the last couple years companies have built or expanded biodiesel and oilseed crushing facilities, with more expected to come online in the near-future.

2006 Rapeseed Crop
USDA's September production estimate for France is 4.0 million tons, down from last year's 4.65 million, in spite of over 100,000 additional planted hectares.  A chain of detrimental weather events occurred over the course of the season, dropping yields below expectations. Freezing and thawing occurred during fall, damaging plant tissue.  Below average temperatures prevented development of an extensive root system, which would have provided plants more drought tolerance.  Rapeseed yields in France however, are largely determined by spring weather, and this year experienced a rapid change of seasons.  Winter remained entrenched in France into March, pushing back the crop's vegetative growth into late spring.  Summer heat and dryness intensified in June, stressing the rapeseed crop.  The time period for the critical stages of flowering and filling was greatly contracted, sandwiched between a late winter that had reduced pod counts, and a very hot, early summer season which reduced seed size and weight.

Wheat
Wheat production for 2006/07 was reduced because of unfavorable weather, including early-summer heat.  USDA's September wheat production estimate for France is 36.5 million tons (including about 2 million tons of durum), down from last year's 36.9 million.  Yields dropped to slightly below average levels, from a previously expected above-average crop. The earlier maturing wheat varieties performed best, benefiting from better early season weather, and suffering less during the heat and dryness that followed. These varieties achieved higher test weights. The major factor reducing wheat yields this year was the sharp and abrupt changes in seasons. Late winter was followed by a short spring, which quickly turned into summer.  The lack of transitional temperature this spring shocked the plants’ systems, not permitting full and proper development. The most sensitive period for wheat in France is during the spring, particularly late May when the plant is flowering. Ideal temperatures at flowering range from 22 to 25 degrees Celsius (72-77 °F) but during late May, temperatures reached 35 Celsius (95° F) at some stations in southwest France.

Corn
Corn area has fallen to an estimated 1.45 million hectares, the lowest level since the mid 1970's. Corn area has been shrinking, and it is expected to continue dropping because of several reasons.  There has been a displacement effect from strong, biodiesel-derived rapeseed demand, low prices, but the primary reason is the crop's high water dependence.  The September estimate for corn is 12.7 million tons, aside from the 2003 heat/drought year (12.0), this represents the lowest production level in ten years. Half of the French corn production is trucked to Spain for animal feed, while a smaller amount goes to the United Kingdom for the starch industry. Yields are expected to be about or slightly above average, and better than last season when a severe drought from the Iberian Peninsula spread northward into France. 

Sixty percent of the French corn crop is irrigated. The southwest is the primary corn growing area and it has the most irrigation, benefiting from rivers originating in the Pyrenees Mountains along the Spanish border in the south.  In some areas of this region a continuous crop rotation, or monoculture of corn after corn exists, with no interruption in its crop rotation.  While irrigation in southwest France is common, it is also a controversial practice, particularly during times of drought.  During the last several years of dry weather, there has been growing concern over enforced rationing of water.  Some people see the policy of mandatory public water restrictions unfair when farmers are allowed to utilize dammed rivers and to irrigate their crops during these periods.   

Biotech
In 2006/07 France planted 5,000 hectares of commercial biotech corn, the second year of commercial production.  All of it is destined for the Spanish market.  In the EU, food made from GMO products going directly for human consumption must be labeled as such.  Livestock, however can be fed GMO feed and the resulting animal products that are sold for human consumption are not required to be labeled as containing GMO.  Spain grows and imports thousands of tons of biotech corn per year.

Increasing restrictions have been placed on pesticide and herbicide usage, so farmers’ options for controlling pest and weeds have been dwindling.  One of the disincentives for technology crops however, is that biotech production in Europe requires dedicated equipment from start to finish to ensure no cross-contamination with other varieties.  This intense focus on detail adds significantly to its cost in time, effort, and money expended on GMO production.  Biotech crops would likely be adopted quickly by farmers, but GMO products are not currently widely accepted by EU consumers.  As long as consumers are avoiding them in the market, their production will be likely be quite limited.  One of the major setbacks fort transgenic technology in the EU can be attributed to bad timing. The biotech debate intensified after the EU experienced problems in previous years with other agricultural technologies, so now there is a general distrust and apathy for food science and government policy towards food, including GMO. 


                       Pictures From Southwest France; First week of August 2006

Current USDA area and production estimates for grains and other agricultural commodities are available on PECAD's Agricultural Production page or at PSD Online.