After a calamito year, better crops are completed in the French countryside. The tender wheat harvest, the main production of French cereals, should amount to 33.07 million tons in 2025, 29% more compared to the previous year, according to the latest estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture. Also called wheat, the tender wheat is mainly destined for the production of flour and, ultimately, to the manufacture of bread sold in bakeries.
This start of production for tender wheat is explained by a clear improvement in performance, which rises to 73.7 quintals per hectare (q/ha) in 2025, with a low yield of 60.9 Q/ha in 2024, an increase of 21% from one year to another. The cultivated areas only operate a small rise of just under 6.5% between the two campaigns, from 4.21 million hectares in 2024 to 4.48 million hectares in 2025, according to estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture.
A limited beginning
Such a jump is not a surprise: the 2025 crops took over a catastrophic season for French grain trees, heavy for bad climatic conditions. Excessive rains and lack of sun, from the fall to spring to the mid -summer, had disturbed the planting and attacked the yields in the fields of France. With 25.65 million tons in 2024, the tender wheat harvest was one of the lowest in the last forty years.
The conditions are much more serene for current crops, which are approaching the finish line in early August. As of August 4, 2025, 94% of tender wheat areas had been collected in France, compared to 85% in the same period in 2024, according to the cere’obs monitoring tool in Francoagimer.
If it is good news for tricolor cereal trees, this rebound in the production of tender wheat is still limited. The 2025 harvest shows only a 4% increase compared to the average of five years 20-2024, “which contains 2 weak years”, namely, the 1920s and 2024, maternal the note of the Ministry of Agriculture. Be that as it may, it will restore colors to French exports, which absorb almost half of the production of tender wheat in normal times.
In addition to tender wheat, barley shows a better form. It is expected that barley production will rise to 11.96 million tons in 2025, 22% more compared to 2024 and 8% compared to the average of five years. Despite the slightly decrease in surfaces, it also benefits from a strong increase in performance (66.9 q/ha in 2025, 23.4% more compared to 2024).
For Durum Wheat, the season is more mixed. Durum wheat harvest should amount to 1.26 million tons, an increase of 3.2% compared to 2024 and 7.1% compared to the average of five years. In addition to a lower increase in performance (57 Q/Ha in 2025, 11.5% more compared to 2024), is penalized by a fall in the areas (222,000 hectares, 7.1% less).
In total, the French production of straw cereals (wheat, barley, oats, rye, triticale) is estimated at 48.39 million tons in 2025, against 38.18 million tons in 2024, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Source: BFM TV
