France: Nearly half of winter barley crop harvested by June 30

French farmers had gathered nearly half of this year's winter barley crop by June 30 after field work accelerated the previous eek in the European Union's top grain producer and exporter, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on July 4.

An estimated 44 percent of the area sown with winter barley had been harvested by June 30, up from 6 percent a week earlier. Farmers have also made an earlier start to the harvest than last year, when no crop had been cut by the end of June.

The durum wheat harvest is also under way, with 5 percent of the crop cut by June 30, up from 1 percent a week earlier. Harvesting of soft wheat, France's main cereal crop, had not started as of July 7, the data showed.

Harvest progress is expected to have slowed this week after heavy rain last weekend and more showers forecast from July 11.

09 July, 2014