Drought Delays Flax Harvest in Northern France

France - 05.08.2026: The persistent lack of rain is delaying the flax harvest and putting pressure on farms in northern France. Although the plants have already been pulled from the ground, they remain laid out in swaths in the fields. The moisture needed for further processing is lacking: without sufficient rainfall, the natural retting process starts only slowly, if at all.During field retting, microorganisms under moist conditions break down the bonds between the fiber and the stem. Only then can the long flax fibers important for textiles be reliably extracted. ...