This year, the weather was really not (but then really not) favorable for the harvests.
Big victim: the wine sector.
The Ministry of Agriculture has announced that French production for 2021 will fall from 24% to 30%.
According to the statistical service of the ministry, Agreste, the harvest should be between 32.6 million and 35.6 million hectoliters.
The cause is the severe episode of spring frost, but also vine diseases such as powdery mildew and mildew, favored by the rainy summer weather.
"The 2021 wine production is forecast to be historically low, lower than those of 1991 and 2017 also affected by a severe frost in spring," notes the ministry.
"For now, the yield would be close to that of 1977, the year when the wine harvest was reduced by a destructive frost and summer precipitation," he continues.
The drop in production between 1977 and 2021 is the consequence of a regular reduction in wine-growing areas between these two dates, he explains.
Fruit trees also affected
The April frost also seriously affected French fruit trees, in particular apricots, whose 2021 harvest should be halved, compared to the 2016-2020 average, according to estimates as of August 1 from Agreste.
It would be the worst harvest in 42 years.
Regarding apricots, 2021 production is estimated at 56,000 tonnes, down 35% over one year and 54% compared to the five-year average, which refers to agriculture.
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