European farmers face ‘unprecedented crisis’ after successive heatwaves
Monday, 17 August 2026
Warm-up
- Have you experienced unusually hot weather where you live recently?
- Which crops near you need lots of water to grow?
- How do farmers prepare for dry seasons in your country?
Vocabulary
- unprecedented
- Happening for the first time or never seen before.
- catastrophic
- Causing very great damage or failure.
- shortfall
- An amount that is smaller than what was expected or needed.
- yield
- The total amount of crop grown from land in one season.
- forage
- Food such as hay or grass stored for farm animals.
- mortality
- The number of deaths in a group, here among animals like poultry.
- depletion
- A large reduction in the amount of something important, for example water.
- affected
- Harmed or changed by something, for example by drought or heat.
Reading
Successive intense heatwaves and an unusually severe drought have created an unprecedented crisis for many European farmers this summer. Vegetable producers in France report catastrophic shortfalls: courgette output is down 25%, lettuce 35%, peas 40%, broccoli 60% and artichokes between 50% and 100%. Prince de Bretagne, which represents over 1,300 growers, called for urgent action as both yields and quality fell. Accelerated human-caused heating and a strong El Niño brought temperatures routinely above 30C and often 35C, with almost no rain and hot winds. The drought has caused severe depletion of river water used for irrigation in several regions. Cereal production has also suffered: the French agriculture ministry estimates the maize harvest will fall 35% from 2025 to about 9m tonnes. Agreste reports hay production for winter forage running about 30% below the 1989–2018 average. In Italy Coldiretti says about 60% of farmland is affected by drought and milk output has fallen by 20%, while losses across the sector are already put at more than €3bn. Poultry houses faced catastrophic mortality during heat spikes, reducing egg output by about 1m eggs a day in France.
Comprehension
- Which organisation represents over 1,300 French vegetable growers?
- By how much is courgette output down in France?
- What temperatures did the heatwaves reach routinely?
- By what percentage is the French maize harvest expected to fall from 2025?
- How much lower is hay production for winter forage than the 1989–2018 average?
Grammar focus
Adding emphasis - cleft sentences
Use a cleft (It + be + X + that/who) to emphasise one part of a sentence. For example: 'Farmers were hit by the drought' becomes 'It was the drought that hit farmers'. (Examples constructed.)
- It was the drought that hit farmers hardest.
- It was Prince de Bretagne that called for urgent action.
Grammar exercise
Circle the correct option in each sentence.
- It was the drought (that / what) caused severe losses.
- It was farmers (who / that) saved some fields last month.
- It was Prince de Bretagne (that / who) asked for urgent action.
- It was the heatwaves (what / that) pushed temperatures above 35C.
- It was poultry houses (who / which) suffered high mortality.
Discussion
- What short-term aid should governments give to drought-hit farmers?
- Should irrigation water be limited for some uses to save crops?
- How could successive bad harvests affect food prices locally?
- What long-term changes could make agriculture more resilient to heat?
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