European farmers are becoming increasingly downbeat as the longest and hottest drought in generations extends its hold over much of the continent.

 

Italy's National Research Council's Institute of Atmosphere and Climate Science said earlier this month that this year was on track to be the hottest and driest in Italy since records began in 1800. This is expected to reduce the country's overall agricultural output by at least a third.

 

The situation is similar in other parts of Europe: crops are reportedly stunted in Hungary, while in Germany the head of a top farmers group said the agriculture sector "cannot cope" with the recent weather problems. Meanwhile, in Slovenia an official told Xinhua that farms without irrigation in the country would have zero output this year.

 

A winemaker in Spain said in a recent interview that the weather this year is even likely to change the taste of Spanish wines.

 

"Everything has a limit," Roberto Ijalba, a winemaker from Bodega Santalba in Spain's historic La Rioja region, told Xinhua. Spanish vineyards are accustomed to hot and dry summers, Ijalba said, but this year the heat has reached a new level. He predicted Spanish wines produced from the 2022 vintage would be sweeter and more alcoholic than normal.

 

A similar story was told in Italy by Faye Lottero, who grows wine grapes and olives in the central Italian region of Tuscany. Her farm has four wells that pump water from 100 meters (330 feet) beneath the surface of the land, she explained. However, she still predicts her farm will produce 20 percent fewer grapes, and smaller and more bitter-tasting olives.

 

Hungarian Minister of Agriculture Istvan Nagy said last month that there has been twice as much agricultural damage so far this year than in the previous ten years combined. Some farmers in the central European country are reportedly adapting to the situation by switching to tropical crops such as bananas and kiwi fruit.

 

Joachim Rukwied, president of the German Farmers' Association, said the agricultural sector in his country is facing a double hit from the extreme weather combined with high fuel costs due to the crisis in Ukraine. This has impacted transportation and fertilizers.

 

"We are fighting on many fronts," Rukwied said. "Fertilizer prices are four times higher than a year ago. Energy costs are twice as high. Feed costs have increased, [and] of course, the weather situation is weighing on our farms."

 

Vasja Juretic, a fruit and olive grower in Slovenia, told Xinhua that even grass mowed to feed animals has been reduced, in some cases by as much as 70 percent.

 

"In permanent plantations without irrigation, the crops are 100 percent damaged," Juretic said. "There is great uncertainty about what will happen in the coming year. Even the vines could not escape this drought."

 

According to Carlo Piccinini, president of the Italian agriculture association Confcooperative, the problems facing the sector this year are likely to become more common in the future. However, he said that better planning could help soften the blow.

 

"With the changing climate we are likely to see these situations more frequently," Piccinini told Xinhua. "It is clear we have to improve water management. We have to learn how to use water more effectively so we can be more resilient in these situations."