According to Philippe Heusele, Secretary General of the General Association of Wheat and Other Cereals Producers, the consequences of the current high heat and drought will vary greatly from one territory to another, in particular depending on the level of soil humidity.
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After the drought, the high heat expected from Thursday June 16 in France will still “aggravate the loss of cereal yield”, said Wednesday June 15 on franceinfo Philippe Heusele, secretary general of the AGPB, the General Association of Producers of Wheat and Other Cereals. For good reason, explains the farmer from Seine-et-Marne, “our crops are at the stage of filling the grains, the plants are literally in the process of forming them and when it is very hot, what is more on dry soil, the filling is bad.”
Very concretely, according to Philippe Heusele, “instead of having, for example, 50 grains of normal weight on an ear of wheat, we may have 40 and smaller grains”. According to the general secretary of the AGPB, “one can imagine losses of the order of 10 to 15%” on cultures in France. Even if the consequences of the drought and the current high temperatures will vary greatly from one territory to another according to him, depending on the level of soil moisture.
“The wetter the soil, the more the plant resists, he explains. On very dry soil, however, losses can be around 30% on a final yield. of a normal year produces 7.5 tons, we will go down to 6.5 tons or even less.”
Philippe Heuseleat franceinfo
“The war in Ukraine in this context does not help matters, adds Philippe Heusele. For the consumer, on the other hand, there will be relatively few consequences in the end because we are lucky in France to have sufficient production, even in these complicated years.