Average protein content in this year’s French soft wheat harvest reached 11.4 per cent, down from 11.9 per cent last year, results from a quality survey by farm office FranceAgriMer and crop institute Arvalis showed Sept. 14.
The national average for protein, a key criterion for wheat milling, followed mixed readings in preliminary survey results.
Milling wheat buyers often require at least 11 per cent protein, with some requiring 11.5 per cent or above, although some users can adapt to lower levels.
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In what they called near-final results covering 99 per cent of planned samples, the two organizations estimated 73 per cent of the 2022 crop above the 11 per cent protein threshold, against a five-year average of 92 per cent, while 42 per cent was above 11.5 per cent, against a five-year average of 72 per cent.
Weaker protein results this year in France, the European Union’s biggest wheat producer, partly reflect strong yields that diluted protein in the major northern growing areas.
For test weights, the survey said 87 per cent of the soft wheat harvest was above 76 kilograms per hectolitre, up from a five-year average of 77 per cent, while 96 per cent of the crop had Hagberg falling numbers above 240 seconds, up from an average of 86 per cent.
Test weights and Hagberg numbers, widely used measures of milling quality, were curbed in last year’s French soft wheat crop by heavy summer rain that delayed field work.
In contrast, this year’s harvest was cut quickly in hot, dry conditions as France experienced its worst drought on record.
