Drought, farmers on alert: “2022 is a horrible year, but 2023 could be worse”

Perhaps the problem of energy costs will be solved, but there is a need rain: a lot, immediately and abundant because otherwise, according to the Italian farmers, 2023 will be a worse year than the past. 2022 was in fact marked by a prolonged drought which has practically halved the production of cheeses and by the soaring energy costs of forage, straw and feed which have brought many companies in the sector to their knees. Second Coldirettidue to the post-effects of climate change and the war in Ukraine, a livestock heritage of over 6 million cattle and buffaloes, over 8 million sheep and goats, more than 8.5 million pigs, as many rabbits and over 144 million chickens.

So today the alert is very high among Italian farmers, an economic sector that represents the 35% of the entire national agriculturefor a value chain 40 billion euros, with a significant impact on employment, considering that there are 800,000 resources active throughout the production cycle. In particular, the data released by Coldiretti on the basis of the ISAC (Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences) surveys of the CNR relating to the first quarter of 2023 are alarming farmers. throughout the country which will also have an impact on the national production of corn and soy, the two main ingredients of animal feed.

Already today, complaint Assaulted (national association of livestock food producers), the national production of feed, which at the end of 2021 was 15.5 million tons, is decidedly lower due to the decline in corn production: previously the level of self-sufficiency was at 50%, today at 35%. Everything else, 90% comes fromEastern Europe. As far as soy is concerned, although our country is the largest European producer, the national harvest is instead able to guarantee only 700,000 of the 3.6 million tons of flour needed each year. Plus or minus 20%. The rest comes from South America: the soy in the form of flour is almost all from Argentina, the one in the form of seeds is almost all from Brazil.

For farmers, there is at least one positive sign: the vote by a very large majority of Agriculture Commission of the EU Parliament that has excluded cattle farms from the obligations of the Industrial Emissions Directive, eliminating any further burden for those who raise pigs and chickens. The pronouncement, now being examined by the Environment Commission, goes against the proposal of the European Commission to expand the activities covered to cattle farms of 150 heads or more, known as the “stable killer” rule, which – he always points out Coldiretti – could lead to the loss of jobs with the closure of many medium-small farms, undermining food sovereignty, with the consequent increase in dependence on imports of animal products from third countries, which have environmental, food safety and of animal welfare much lower than those imposed on farmers in the Union. Or, even worse, and to push towards the development of synthetic foods in test tubes, from meat to synthetic milk foods.