Support in certain times for companies with compromised production, greater flexibility in the obligations relating to the management of crops in the field, as well as the modification of the irrigation season period. These are the requests made by the delegation of Coldiretti Lombardia, led by president Gianfranco Comincioli, to the regional councilor Alessandro Beduschi, during the discussion on the effects of bad weather in the countryside which took place today (Tuesday 11 June) in Milan.
Since April, 35 weather alerts have been issued in Lombardy for hydro-geological, hydraulic, storm and strong wind risks – states the regional Coldiretti – Exceptional quantities of rain have hit the countryside in the period in which the autumn-winter crops are harvested and we proceed with spring sowing. Without forgetting the first honey productions of the year and the fruit plants in development.
“Farmers are in difficulty – states the president of Coldiretti Lombardia Gianfranco Comincioli – Exceptional emergency measures are needed: we thank the president Attilio Fontana for having requested the state of calamity”.
“It is important that the support arrives within a reasonable time – specifies Laura Facchetti, president of Coldiretti Brescia – but this year we also need more flexibility to safeguard the production season. Work is also necessary on subsidized insurance, to strengthen them, make them more functional, efficient and therefore more attractive”.
After a May with rainfall accumulations two or three times higher than average – continues the regional Coldiretti on Arpa data – in Lombardy About a third of the fields intended for first harvest corn still need to be sown, but 29% of rice sowings and over 60% of soybeans are also missing. Another open front – continues Coldiretti – concerns hay meadows: mowing is very late, especially in mountain pastures where the operations are inherently more complicated. A situation that worries farmers who use hay as food for their animals.
Farmers – states Coldiretti – find themselves in a condition of uncertainty which forces them to review the company organization and normal crop planning. You have to decide whether to concentrate the preparation and tillage of the land in pursuit of good weather windows; whether to change the type of cultivation on the fly or whether to maintain the same one but choose varieties of plants that ripen in less time; whether to reseed everything where the land had already been worked.
Agriculture – concludes Coldiretti Lombardia – is the economic activity that, more than any other, experiences the consequences of climate change on a daily basis with the damage caused by drought and bad weather which in Italy in 2023 exceeded 6 billion euros.
