Italian agriculture is in great difficulty. The real vice made up of challenging climatic conditions and escalating production costs is putting the sector to the test.
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From a climatic point of view, the difficulties are related to drought, especially widespread in the northern regions. On the production cost front, the crisis in the Middle East is weighing heavily, triggering sharp increases in fuel and fertilizer prices, which largely pass through the Strait of Hormuz. From cereals to fruit and vegetables, from wine to oil and livestock farming to the beekeeping sector and mushrooms, it is currently difficult to find an agri-food supply chain that is safe from threats.
Cereals, harvests decrease
Cereals are struggling, starting with durum wheat, the raw material for a symbol of Made in Italy products such as pasta. Durum wheat closed the harvest campaign with a 6% decrease compared to last year. But what worries most is the price trend, significantly down compared to last year despite production costs having increased significantly.
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Concerns are also recorded in rice (whose campaign will start in September), a cereal whose entire production cycle takes place in water and in the northern regions of Italy, and which is therefore at risk due to the drought that has hit the northern areas. Completing the complex picture for the rice sector is the growth of imports from Southeast Asia, which are pushing prices down and penalizing producers of the main European player, Italy.
Livestock farming, milk down by 10%
Livestock farming is not exempt from difficulties, with dairy farming at the forefront since prolonged heat is leaving its mark in the barns and “is causing – as emphasized yesterday by Fedagri-Confcooperative – a production drop estimated at minus 10%. All this in a context of rising production costs.”
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