Paris — Desperate French farmers are increasingly turning to newly created suicide hotlines as the worst wheat harvest in a generation devastates their livelihoods.
Heavy spring rains have crippled the EU’s top wheat exporter just as Russia and Ukraine piled on the pressure, depressing prices with a bumper crop. While France’s harvest is not complete, the agriculture ministry predicts the worst in 30 years, with yields down as much as 40 percent from the 2011-2015 average.
Italy is affected too, but the French situation is especially dire: Many farmers in the country’s central and eastern regions exclusively grow wheat. The overall …read more
Source: POLITICO – Europe Edition
