Meet the Italian farmers facing the extremes of climate change | On The Ground
Over the past year, Italian regions like Veneto and Emilia Romagna has been hit with extreme weather. From flooding to droughts and even large hail, the region has seen death and destruction caused by the weather events.
Months after the flooding and drought that have affected the region, The Independent visited to meet farmers who are facing up to an uncertain future with climate change. While some are having to adapt, others are contemplating a future away from the region.
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Months after the flooding and drought that have affected the region, The Independent visited to meet farmers who are facing up to an uncertain future with climate change. While some are having to adapt, others are contemplating a future away from the region.
Watch On The Ground on Independent TV, across desktop, mobile and connected TV.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 This is the forgotten clay,
00:03 from everyone, from the region, from all institutions, and from God.
00:09 Over the past couple of years,
00:23 Italy has been hit by a string of extreme weather events.
00:26 Flooding in northern Italy has killed at least 11 people.
00:29 Italy is facing its worst drought in nearly 70 years.
00:33 In the grip of a heatwave, Italy, which has issued red alerts for 16 cities.
00:37 Heatwaves, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events
00:42 are taking a toll on agriculture and food production.
00:46 In August 2022, the Independent met with farmers
00:50 who had been severely hit by six months of drought.
00:54 We had a total drought.
00:57 The plant is completely without the leaves,
01:00 and where the leaves are, or whatever you can call it,
01:05 this is the result.
01:07 Over the past couple of years,
01:09 the country has endured a cycle of extreme drought,
01:12 followed by heavy rains, that have caused widespread destruction.
01:17 In 29 years I have never seen rain like this.
01:20 Apart from the last couple of rains,
01:23 we can count on a hand since January that we haven't seen water.
01:27 It's like cement.
01:29 Usually the soil is wet, you have to be able to plant.
01:33 The drought conditions have meant that growing crops like corn
01:37 is becoming difficult,
01:39 changing Veneto's means of food and energy production.
01:42 We have a product that is more scarce.
01:45 We have to change the animal feed
01:48 to make it with what we have.
01:51 It could increase the cost of milk, the cost of energy,
01:55 and even if there is no energy, biogas.
01:58 I can't imagine what the climate changes will be like in the next few years.
02:05 The changing climate is also threatening
02:08 one of Veneto's most famous products,
02:10 the grapes used in Prosecco.
02:12 Sun damage, let's say.
02:14 When a grape is exposed too much,
02:16 scars form on the acid.
02:19 Usually the vineyards were under stress,
02:22 in this case, hydric stress,
02:24 and so more plants have shown cases of gold-flavored or male-dell'esca,
02:29 which in this case usually,
02:32 maybe the plant with a more favorable yield,
02:35 manages to fight the disease.
02:37 The damage caused by drought in the vineyards,
02:40 the younger ones,
02:42 the older ones, will not be able to fix them.
02:45 The fruit will be harvested from the trough from the previous year.
02:50 The droughts, however, are just one end
02:52 of the extreme weather events Italy is increasingly seeing.
02:57 Flooding, like the one in Emilia-Romagna in May,
03:00 hit headlines around the world
03:02 as 17 people lost their lives and areas were destroyed.
03:06 Months after the flooding,
03:08 farmers are still grappling with the effects.
03:12 The whole farm we cultivate is in this area,
03:16 140 hectares,
03:18 which reaches down to those trees.
03:22 Here we cultivated corn,
03:24 which was the best corn I had ever had in so many years of activity.
03:28 The break in the trough happened on the right side of the edifice,
03:33 and so all the fields were flooded,
03:36 in that direction, to the right.
03:38 It will take years and years to make a cultivable land again.
03:44 As far as the expenses of the rent,
03:48 the seeds, the consumption,
03:51 and the harvest,
03:53 we are around one million euros.
03:55 This is the forgotten clay,
03:58 by everyone,
04:00 by the region,
04:02 by all the institutions,
04:04 and by God.
04:06 Here there is no one, nothing.
04:08 No one works, no one does anything.
04:10 In some parts of Emilia-Romagna,
04:13 the water has retreated,
04:15 but left a thick crust of dried lime
04:17 that is damaging crops.
04:19 I was born here and I'm a few years old.
04:23 I could never imagine a job like this.
04:27 The water is at that height,
04:32 30 centimeters from that line there,
04:35 where you can see it.
04:36 And this is the land that remains,
04:39 all compacted, purple,
04:41 ugly, not oxygenated.
04:43 And this will lead to radical asphyxiation.
04:47 It means that we can probably go and lose the plants.
04:51 Fruits, like apples and peaches,
04:54 are the main product exported from Emilia-Romagna.
04:57 But this year, farmers like Olivano,
04:59 who is growing an expensive variety of apple,
05:02 called Pink Lady, risk losing most of their crop.
05:05 In 2022, reports have shown a 1.5% decrease
05:30 in Italy's agricultural production,
05:32 partially caused by extreme climate events.
05:35 Drought and flooding are two sides of the same problem,
05:40 in the sense that both are extreme events.
05:44 And their intensity and frequency are increasing,
05:47 and more and more often,
05:49 after or during a prolonged drought,
05:51 precipitation events can turn into heavy rainfalls.
05:55 The climate changes are increasing
05:58 and the extreme events of currents
06:00 are increasing the temperature.
06:02 In Italy, for example, the temperature is clearly increasing.
06:06 With increased volatility in the weather conditions,
06:09 many farmers are being forced to make a choice.
06:13 And for some, that choice is even more extreme.
06:26 It's almost impossible to continue producing so expensive crops,
06:32 and the risk is too high to do so.
06:35 If we don't have protection,
06:38 guarantees,
06:40 of everything that could happen on a climate level,
06:44 why do it?
06:46 If this continues,
06:47 the fruit in Emilia-Romagna won't be produced anymore.
06:50 There are, however, some farmers like Giuseppe,
06:54 who cannot bear to leave.
06:57 It's something that hurts.
06:59 It's something that hurts,
07:03 those who love their work,
07:05 the countryside.
07:07 We are farmers,
07:09 we have hard skin,
07:10 we have seen it in all colors.
07:12 We will go through this too.
07:14 We don't expect the water to go away.
07:16 We expect the soil to dry up,
07:18 and then we will go there again,
07:20 to fix, dig,
07:22 and make the soil again.
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