2.6 Western Europe

This monitoring period covers the vegetative growth of winter wheat and summer crops in the Western European Major Production Zone (MPZ).  Overall, crop conditions were below average in most parts of the Western European MPZ based on the integration of agroclimatic and agronomic indicators (Figure 2.5).

The whole MPZ showed a drop in RAIN (7% below average), and significant spatio-temporal differences in precipitation between the countries were observed. They can be characterized as follows: (1) the precipitation in April in almost the entire MPZ was below average; (2) during the whole monitoring period, 42.1percent of MPZ areas experienced below-average precipitation with the exception of early June and early July. The affected regions include western Spain, Franche Comté region, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the central part of the Rhone-Alpes region, and the southern part of the Midi-Pyrénées region in France, Piedmont region and Umbria region, Puglia in Italy, the east coast and the north of England, Southeast of Bavaria, Hesse, North of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary; (3) during the entire monitoring period, precipitation for 49.4% percent of the MPZ areas (Central and Western England, most of France and most of Germany) showed a bimodal trend of drastic changes around the average,  and above-average rain was observed only in early May and mid-June, whereas precipitation was below average by about 29% in late May. In mid-June, 33% of the area was above average; (4) after early May, with the exception of late May and late June to mid-July, the precipitation in 8.5 percent of MPZ areas was above average, and the above-average rate reached about 38% in mid-May, and about 60% in early June, respectively. Countries with the most severe precipitation deficit included Germany (RAIN -22%), UK (RAIN -18%), Italy (RAIN -10%) and France (RAIN -10%), while only Spain experienced significant above-average precipitation (RAIN +40%). Due to the rainfall deficit, flowering and grain filling for the winter crops were negatively impacted. More rain will be needed in the coming weeks to raise soil moisture to favorable levels in order to ensure good yields for the summer crops.

Temperature (TEMP) for the MPZ as a whole was slightly below average (TEMP -0.1°C), and sunshine was well above average with RADPAR up by 1%. Temperature in Denmark, northern England, and northern Germany was significantly above average in mid-June and late June, and the temperature in most areas of France, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and UK was significantly above average in early and late May. High temperature shortened the grain filling stage of crops and accelerated the maturity, which may have reduced crop yields. TEMP in the MPZ was significantly below average in early June, early July and mid-July.

Despite of the rainfall deficit, the potential BIOMSS was near average due to sunnier conditions for the MPZ. The lowest BIOMSS values (-10% and below) occurred in parts of Spain, eastern and southeastern Germany, northern and central Italy. In contrast, BIOMSS was above average (sometimes exceeding a 10% departure) over northern and southwestern France, central and southern Spain, and southern UK. The average maximum VCI for the MPZ reached 0.92. More than 98% of arable lands were cropped, which is 2% above the recent five-year average. Most uncropped arable land is concentrated in eastern and southeastern Spain, with patchy distribution in other countries. The VHI minimum map shows that most of France, the eastern part of the UK and Germany were most affected by severe drought conditions.

Generally, crop conditions in the Western Europe MPZ were below average due to rainfall deficits. More rain will be needed in several important crop production areas to ensure an adequate soil moisture supply for the growth of the summer crops.

Figure 2.5. Western Europen MPZ: Agro-climatic and agronomic indicators, April to July 2020.

a. Spatial distribution of rainfall profiles              b. Profiles of rainfall departure from average (mm)

c. Spatial distribution of temperature profiles     d. Profiles of temperature departure from average (mm)

e. Maximum VCI

f. Cropped arable land

g. Biomass accumulation potential departure

h. VHI minimum