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Fruit and vegetables scorched in the fields amid Italian heatwave

Lorenzo Tondo

Italy’s record-breaking heatwave is beginning to take a serious toll on the country’s agriculture, scorching fruit and vegetables, affecting livestock, and deepening a growing drought crisis in the south.

According to Coldiretti, Italy’s largest farmers’ association, early signs of damage are already being reported from north to south: from blistered melons in Tuscany to milk shortages in Lombardy and water rationing in Sicily.

In the northern region of Lombardy, which accounts for nearly half of Italy’s milk output, dairy farms are reporting a 10% drop in production, with some areas seeing losses of up to 15%. That equates to 1.8 million fewer litres of milk each day, Coldiretti warns. Farmers have been forced to install fans and cooling sprays inside barns to help cows cope with the extreme heat, while adjusting feed with added minerals and potassium.

In Piedmont, the heat has accelerated ripening by up to two weeks for key crops such as wheat, barley, tomatoes and grapes. Growers in the province of Turin are using protective nets to shield fruit from sun damage, amid a rise in infestations of Popillia japonica, a Japanese beetle that poses a growing threat to vineyards and orchards.

In the central and southern regions, the toll is mounting. In Tuscany’s Maremma countryside, hundreds of kilos of melons have been effectively “cooked” on the vine, rendering them unsellable. Concerns are growing for watermelons, peaches, plums, tomatoes and aubergines, as relentless heat and dry soils accelerate stress.

Umbria has already seen spring crops like sunflowers and maize suffer under prolonged heat. In Molise, some dairy farms have recorded production losses of up to 30%. In Sardinia’s Nurra region, irrigation for forage crops like alfalfa has been suspended due to water shortages — leaving livestock farmers scrambling for alternatives.

Puglia is seeing declines not just in milk, but also in egg and honey production. The collapse in oats and barley yields — essential feed for animals — has added further strain.

Yet it is the south’s drought that looms largest. National reservoirs are running 164 million cubic metres below capacity. In western Sicily, water supply to farms is intermittent at best, and milk yields are falling. Vineyards in the Trapani region are on alert for outbreaks of downy mildew, a disease triggered by a mix of humidity and heat.

While the south bakes, the north faces its own extremes. In the Aosta Valley, Coldiretti reports a string of night-time hailstorms, as well as landslides and mudflows caused by unstable weather patterns.

Italy’s farmers, already on the frontlines of climate volatility, are bracing for what could be a devastating summer season.