sharp drop in corn harvest

Corn plants yellowed by the heat and corn that no longer grows, the situation is difficult for farmers after a summer marked by extreme weather conditions. The drought has had a strong impact on crops and concerning corn, the harvest is being done a month in advance. A farmer will lose 50% of his production. “We can see that in the end (…) the cob is much smaller, so here we have almost a quarter of the corn cob less”deplores Bertrand Tourard, farmer.

The lack of water caused by drought is the main cause of this poor harvest. “Instead of having 100 tons per hectare in a conventional year, finally in a normal year, today we are going to go down to 50 tons per hectare, so twice as much corn as a normal year”, explains Bertrand Tourard. A total of 10.5 million tonnes are expected to be harvested, down 30% from previous years. Livestock farmers are suffering greatly from these declining numbers since they use maize to feed the animals.