"The situation is serious"

Drought, virus in Italy: fruit/vegetables soon more expensive?

A picture shows small oranges and dry fruit in one in Sicily. The fruit on the trees is much smaller than usual due to the drought.

(Bild: AFP)

Abandoned orchards in Sicily, sharp drop in production in the north: Climate change is threatening fruit and vegetable harvests in Italy, with serious consequences for agricultural businesses. This could soon become a problem in Austria too. Because if the fields in the south dry out, prices will rise here.

Italian fruit and vegetable production generates an annual turnover of 16 billion euros.

Spread of plant diseases
However, weather conditions not only lead to the spread of plant diseases, but also have a negative impact on the size, quantity and shelf life of agricultural produce, complains the Confagricoltura agricultural association.

An Italian farmer shows small oranges and dried fruit in Sicily. Due to the drought, the fruit on the trees is much smaller than usual.

(Bild: AFP)

The skin of the fruit cracks open
In Piedmont in northern Italy, peaches and nectarines, for example, are heavily infested with the sharka virus. In the Emilia Romagna region, there are complaints of monilia, a fungal disease that attacks fruit such as cherry, peach and apricot trees due to the high humidity in the orchards. In Veneto, the cherry harvest has been affected by a plant disease that causes the skin of the fruit to crack due to high temperatures or very heavy rainfall.

"The situation is serious"
Southern Italy has been severely affected by several months of drought. In Sicily, farms are struggling with the worst water crisis ever, forcing entire orchards to be abandoned. The situation is also serious on the island of Sardinia and in the southern Italian Adriatic region of Apulia, as reported by Confagricoltura.

(Bild: AFP)

Sharp drop in production
The significant decline in the consumption of summer fruit compared to previous years is also worrying. Due to inflation and falling purchasing power, Italian families have reduced their purchases of summer fruit, explained Michele Ponso, President of the Confagricoltura association.

Concerns about the tomato harvest
The tomato harvest, a key sector of Italian agricultural production with an annual turnover of 5 billion euros, was also difficult this year. The tomato harvest, which began at the start of August in the southern Italian Adriatic province of Foggia, proved to be one of the most difficult ever, as drought and record heat affected the development of the plants, farmers reported.

Climate change makes food significantly more expensive
Climate change is making some foods significantly more expensive. Global warming favors extreme weather conditions such as droughts and heavy rainfall.

(Bild: AFP or licensors)

"For orange juice, for example, it's not just the massive increase in prices that is a problem, but also the general availability of the juice," Daniel Wüstner, Managing Director of Vorarlberg fruit juice producer Rauch, recently told Der Standard. Even if high prices are paid, there is no guarantee that the required quantities will be available in full. In December 2023, the price monitor of the Chamber of Labor (AK) determined an average price per liter of orange juice of 2.99 euros in the online stores of Billa and Interspar. In December 2022, it was still 1.89 euros.

Water shortage in Italy

(Bild: AFP)

However: "As the quantities of other fruits cannot be easily increased, consumers will most likely also be confronted with shortages and cost increases." 

Grape harvest also affected
The effects of climate change have also had an impact on the Italian grape harvest, which, according to Coldiretti, has started earlier than ever this year. It started on July 25 in Sicily, two weeks earlier than usual, due to the heat and lack of rain, factors that have accelerated the ripening of the grapes, especially in the south.