Heat and drought are devastating the countryside in France: million-dollar losses and crisis in food production

First was the farmers’ relentless help to firefighters during the forest fires in France. The country thanked him. They were the ones who prevented, with their tractors and machinery, the flames from spreading; with their “firebreaks” of hundreds of hectares, which saved their neighbors’ houses and animals.

Now it is this “enormous moral and physical exhaustion” that they feel when they see their crops dying from the “canicule”, the lack of water and their future. A cry and a request for help a catastrophe without precedent, product of climate change and the five heat waves of more than 40 degrees throughout the country.

An “annus horribilis”, as Queen Elizabeth II would say. In the face of a historic drought, all French agriculture faces great difficulties. The fruit and vegetable and livestock sectors are suffering from the combined effects of heat waves and severe drought, to the point that some They fear food shortages.

The same phenomenon is reproduced in Great Britain. They think that there will be no food, vegetables or milk. The temperature does not drop below 38 degrees in the kingdom.

“The combined effects of drought and repeated heat waves have literally devastated the grass.” In a joint statement (PDF), the federations of beef (meat and milk), sheep and goat farmers in France urge the government to address this “historical phenomenon.”

In general terms, all sectors of French agriculture regret the enormous consequences of the drought that is hitting France.

Météo-France lo confirmed: July 2026 was the hottest and driest month ever recorded since measurements began in 1900, illustrating the effects of climate change.

“The soils are even drier than in 2022 and 2025 at the same time of year,” they explain.

It is not wheat or corn alone, but vegetables, legumes, potatoesthe vines and the fruits that are the victims today.

The situation is critical for fruit and vegetable producers. Initial estimates indicate losses of between 30% and 70% in some crops.

Yield losses affect all agricultural sectors and They amount to billions of dollars. Farmers demand financial help to survive. They ask the government and the European Union.

Horticulture, fruit growing, livestock, viticulture… All French agricultural sectors are being seriously affected by the numerous heat waves that are hitting France this summer. The fifth heat wave began this week, with temperatures that will reach 42 degrees. Never seen.

“The situation in French agriculture is no longer on the verge of collapse, as in 2022 (the last year of severe drought and high temperatures). This time, is in the abyss“summarizes Serge Zaka, doctor in agroclimatology. “We are probably experiencing one of the largest national agricultural disasters since 1945perhaps even the greatest.”

Arnaud Rousseau, a grain farmer and president of the FNSEA, France’s largest agricultural union, along with the Young Farmers, believes this is “a climate catastrophe of a magnitude never seen in agriculture over such a long period.”

A simple tour of the French countryside reveals the direct consequences of global warming: sunburnt and yellow fields, trees with withered leaves, stunted fruit trees, empty orchards, rivers without water.

The result is a collapse of agricultural production. “We still do not have the final figures for 2026. But the agricultural losses of crops sown in spring, such as corn, are drastic,” explained Serge Zaka.

Fortunately, losses are typically more moderate for winter crops such as wheat and barley, which have largely been spared the worst of the summer’s drought and heat waves.

The situation is, without a doubt, more critical for fruit and vegetable producers.

“I have never seen anything like it in the twenty years that I have been dedicated to horticulture,” says Jonathan Chabert, fruit and vegetable producer, vegetable expert at the national commission of the Paysanne Confederation.

Among the most critical cases, some farms specialized in small fruits, such as strawberries, currants and blueberries, have registered 100% losses, after the two heat waves in May and June.

In Brittany, some farms have run out of water and can no longer irrigate. In other words, the season is over for them too. Without government help, they will be forced to close. In the department of Deux-Sèvres, 30% of the orchards and fruit trees are or will be in default. The sector is suffering “enormous moral and physical exhaustion.”

The situation of cattle, pig, sheep and poultry farms It’s equally alarming.. “We estimate that the decrease in forage and grass in pastures is -30%,” explains Serge Zaka.

Dairy production is collapsing. Although dairy cows can tolerate moderate temperatures, above 29 degrees Celsius, they eat less and produce less milk.

“We are seeing very clear declines in milk production, at least 10%.” “Cow mortality reaches 20%, and up to 30% on heat wave days, with temperatures above 29 degrees Celsius,” says Philippe Lecompagnon, a farmer on a 150-cow farm near Avranches (Manche).

“When temperatures return to normal, some cows recover their production, but others do not, for reasons unknown. We no longer risk keeping them and we sell them because we are running out of grass. We are already depleting our winter reserves,” continues the farmer, while typing on the control screen of his milking robot.

The national hog mortality rate is estimated to be between 5% and 7%. The piglets suffer from stunted growth and they take longer to reach the weight necessary for sale.