Climate crisis having big impact on output say Italian farmers

ROME. KAZINFORM - Italian farmers association Coldiretti said Sunday that their members were having a nightmare summer with an average of 32 extreme weather events a day badly affecting production, ANSA reports.

Citing data from the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD), it said events such as violent storms, typhoons and heatwaves were up by 57% on the summer of 2022.
It said the extreme weather was an effect of the climate crisis caused by human greenhouse-gas emissions, adding that it had led to a 10% drop in wheat production this year, a 14% fall in grape yields and a 63% decrease in pear crops, to give just some examples.
It said honey production was 70% down on last year.
«We are faced with the clear consequences of the climate crisis in Italy too, where exceptional atmospheric events are now the norm, with a tendency towards tropicalization,» said Coldiretti.
«This is manifest in the high frequency of violent events, seasons being out of synch, short, intense rainfalls and the rapid passage from sunshine to bad weather, with significant leaps and plunges in temperature».