According to the local chamber of agriculture, the Paris region received two and half to three times the usual amount of rainfall in May, with the “amount of stagnant waters in the fields, the threat of overflowing from the River Seine and the constant damp resulting in difficult consequences for farmers”.

All sectors have been hit, Arnaud Rousseau, chair of the FDSEA77 farmers union east of the French capital, told the Irish Farmers Journal. Tillage farmers, who account for 90% of the region’s agricultural output, are suffering.

“Between 2,000 and 4,000 hectares have been under water for six days or more, which means the plants are out,” said Arnaud.

“I know a farmer who had 50 hectares of wheat under water in one block.”

Constant climb in prices

Outside the areas directly hit by spot flooding, Rousseau expects grain quality to go down with parasites benefiting from the wet, and lack of spraying by farmers.

“I haven’t been able to access my fields for two weeks – I only got in this morning, and it was very heavy,” he said.

Protein beans, too, are reported to show high levels of disease. Global grain markets have reacted to the news of extremely wet weather in France and in eastern Europe with a constant climb in prices since the start of June.

Fruit and vegetable farmers are the worst hit, with most of these farms located along watercourses and in many cases entirely flooded. Livestock farmers are less numerous in the region but they, too, have had to bring animals indoors and are prevented from cutting grass both by direct flooding and by the debris left behind by receding waters.