Italy's rice harvest faces ruin as northern water reserves dry up
A severe drought is destroying rice crops in northern Italy and draining critical water reserves, exposing how outdated agricultural infrastructure is failing to cope with climate-driven water scarcity.
Rice farmers in the Po Valley are watching their crops wither as a severe June heatwave and depleted water reserves push harvests toward total loss. In Pavia, the centre of Italy's rice industry, farmers say even heavy summer rain would now come too late to save fields parched by a dry spring.
The province normally produces nearly five million tonnes of grain annually, but yields are collapsing. Nicola Valdi, a local farmer, pointed to a shrivelled shoot expected to produce just 10 grains, compared to the 70 or 80 of a healthy plant. Without water, fields usually reserved for sushi rice cannot be flooded, leaving weeds to take over.
The Po River Authority warned on Friday that waterways from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea are in a "critical situation". Lakes are being drained to feed the Po and its tributaries, but these emergency reserves will run out within weeks.
This recurring crisis highlights a structural failure in European agriculture. The June heatwave would have been "virtually impossible without climate change", according to climatologists from World Weather Attribution. Yet, Silvia Garavaglia, head of the local Coldiretti farmers union, noted that her group has spent 20 years pressing authorities to improve winter water collection without success.
Lorenzo Baio, head of water resources for Legambiente Lombardy, said agricultural engineering has not kept pace with climate change. He argued that the region must cut the area devoted to corn production and shift rice field flooding to the spring "to mitigate the summer peak in water demand".
The scarcity is already fracturing the agricultural economy. Farmers in Lombardy accuse those in neighbouring Piedmont of overuse, while growers in the Po delta blame the entire upstream valley for leaving them dry.
In Piedmont, near Vercelli, Roberto Guerrini of the Coldiretti union said farmers are rotating water among paddies to keep risotto rice alive. "But if the water doesn't arrive within a week or 10 days, we are going to lose crops," he said. Carlo Angoli, a Pavia farmer, summed up the narrow margin for survival: "We need about 50 millimetres of rain, but without hail."
