This report’s monitoring period covers the late stages of sugar beets (October harvest) and theearly vegetative stages of soft wheat and winter barley (planted in October). On the national scale, the CropWatch TEMP indicator shows warmer than average weather. Also at the national level, biomass presents a 10% decrease compared to average due to low rains (-15%) and radiation (-7%). As shown by the NDVI profiles, national NDVI values were well above average and even close to the five-year maximum, consistent with a maximum VCI of0.85 for France overall. According to the crop condition map based on NDVI, the country's spatial NDVI indicates a situation that on the whole is better than the five-year average, with the exception of (i) the east of Bourgogne,the south of Franche-comte, and the east of Rhone-Alpes region, with NDVI values below average from mid-November to early December; and (ii) the Lorraineand Champagne-Ardenne region, where NDVI values were below average from early November to mid-November. Generally, due to the suitable temperatures,the agronomic indicators mentioned above indicate a favorable condition for most winter crop areas of France.

Figure3.13. France crop condition, October2014-January 2015