The crop in France was generally in good andabove average condition during the reporting period. Currently, winter wheat, winterbarley and spring barley are in the vegetative stages and maize is beingplanted. According to HGCA, 83% maize had been planted by May 9. Compared withthe last five-year average, CropWatch agroclimatic indices indicate warmer thanaverage weather at the national scale and PAR displays a decrease of 4%. Theseobservations are consistent with the warmer than usual weather in Europerecorded in the JRC/MARS bulletin and in the NCDC report on climate anomalies.At the national level, biomass decreased by 3 percent compared to the five-yearaverage due to low rains (-11%). According to the NDVI profile analysis, valuesare above average across the country with the exception of the south of thePyrénées, the north of Languedoc-Roussillon, and the northwest ofChampagne-Ardennes and Burgundy, where NDVI values were below average frommid-March to April. Generally good NDVI conditions are present in the Picardieregion and the east and south of Bourgogne-Franche Comté, which is consistentwith the maximum VCI map.

Figure3.13. France crop condition, Jan-Apr 2014

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI                 (b) maximum VCI

(c) Spatial NDVI patternscompared to 5YA                          (d) NDVI Profile