Farmers watch crops wither amid Italy’s worst drought in 70 years

Italy’s farmers cope with the worst drought in 70 years that prompted the government to declare a state of emergency. “Even if water comes, it’s all ruined.” Last week, the boot-shaped peninsula declared a state of emergency in five of its normally lush northern regions, with Italy’s farmers’ confederation Coldiretti estimating three billion euro worth of damage to agriculture. Earlier this year, the European Drought Observatory, a service run by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, found the drought had caused the stored energy value in reservoirs to be at 27.2 percent of the total storage capacity – below the minimum level recorded since monitoring begun in 1970. Meanwhile, regions further downstream the Adda river – Italy’s fourth longest – are also demanding a share of water, which Lombardy’s water consortium has said it cannot afford to give. In addition to that, “Middle Eastern companies bought large quantities of Italian feed even before the war in Ukraine began, so now there is a severe shortage on the market.” Drought across Europe Italy’s situation is not an isolated one.