Crop condition in France was generally favorable over the reporting period. Currently, winter wheat, winter barley and spring barley are in the vegetative stages. At the national level, compared with average, CropWatch agroclimatic indicators show that the reporting period recorded a 2% increase in RAIN, a 1.1°C decrease in TEMP, and 8% below average RADPAR. BIOMASS presents a 31% increase compared to average of the recent five-year average (Figure 3.13) due to favourable rainfall. As shown by the NDVI profiles, however, national NDVI values were well above average and even above the five-year maximum from early January to February, consistent with a maximum VCI of 0.81 for France overall. The spatial NDVI patterns compared to the five year average indicate that NDVI values were above average from early January to the end of March in many areas. This does not apply to 54.9% of agricultural areas, including most of Limousin, Poitou-Charentes and north of Midi-Pyrenees, most of Lorraine and Alsace and east of Rhone Alpes where poor conditions occurred during mid-February and mid-March. With the exception of Mediterranean areas which suffered a 25% rainfall deficit, the agronomic indicators mentioned above point at favorable condition for most winter crop areas of France.

(a)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI                 (b) maximumVCI

(c)Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA                                        (d) NDVI profile