Europe’s Wilted Wheat Leaves World Hunting Elsewhere for Grain
- France likely to post one of smallest harvests in two decades
- Shrinking EU crops to leave importers turning to other origins
A farmer drives a combine harvester in a wheat field near Boulange, northeastern France on July 25.
Photographer: Jean-Christophe Verghaegen/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
As harvests roll out across Europe, a season of droughts and floods have proven their toll on the continent’s wheat crop.
Farmers in France are pulling in one of the smallest soft-wheat crops in recent memory, with harvests in Romania also battered by poor weather. Even as Russia’s output rises, the mixed bag in a major breadbasket has tightened early-season supplies in the global market.