Repeated heatwaves and drought have made it a punishing summer for French farmers – scorching pastures, straining livestock and driving up costs. With grass disappearing from fields, cattle farmers across the country are already dipping into fodder meant to feed their herds through winter.
Issued on: 22/08/2026 - 09:04
4 min Reading time
The National Federation of Milk Producers, or FNPL, said winter fodder stocks were already being used by many farmers across France by late July. At La Recette farm in Échouboulains, in the Seine-et-Marne department east of Paris, Philippe Dufour's cows usually graze in the pastures all summer, where the grass can grow up to half a metre high. But this year, the cattle farmer's fields have been completely scorched by the sun. French farmers bracing for smallest corn harvest in 40 years Parched pastures France has experienced five heatwaves this summer, with temperatures rising above 40C in several areas and records repeatedly broken across the country and elsewhere in Western Europe. July 2026 was the second-driest July on record in Europe, surpassed only by 2022. Successive heatwaves have parched already depleted soils, which are suffering from an increasing water deficit because of the lack of rainfall. In early August, nearly two-thirds of France's groundwater tables, the country's main water reserves, were below normal levels, data from the government's VigiEau monitoring service showed. "We haven't had any grass for over a month now; it looks a bit like a desert. I’ve never seen it quite like this," Dufour told RFI. Dufour, who has been raising Blonde d’Aquitaine cattle for 40 years, said the situation was particularly frustrating because the hay harvested earlier in the season was of very good quality.
