When the thermometer in Europe exceeds 40°C, traditional everyday life in the countryside stops and real work starts at 2 am. In the light of strong projectors, producers overturn centuries of habits and carry the harvesting, sowing, and feeding of animals into darkness, in order for night dew to save the quality of the harvest.
This is a forced shift in time that not only testes human endurance, but brings the agricultural economy to a loss of billions.
On the 24-year-old Eleanor Gilbert farm in Berkshire, the olive rape harvest is now held at 2 a.m., as night dew is the only way to increase the moisture of the plant to 7% so that it is not rejected by buyers.
Around 10 a.m. he begins the harvest of wheat and continues all day long. After just two or three hours of sleep, the sixth generation producer returns to the field, repeating the same exhausting 24-hour period that strongly resembles jet lag.
At the same time, the night harvest reduce the risk of a fire arising from machinery in dry fields; where recently the flames reached just a few meters away. Because of the drought, this year's Gilbert production fell to half, ejecting the cost per tonne of cereals from 150 to 200 pounds, notes the Financial Times report.
«Butter» in corn production – The potato problem
Constant heat waves force producers across Europe to reorganise radically.
The French Ministry of Agriculture announced that corn production is expected to record a 35% dip compared to last year, By reducing to 9 million tonnes,the lowest performance since 1980.
In the Greater Madrid Area, potato harvest begins after sundown so that its quality is not degraded by the inflamed soil, while in Corsica, pigs feed animals at night when lower temperatures stimulate their appetite.
«We thought we had time.»
Devon, Riverford's organic vegetable workshops have been working since 5 a.m. and are recruiting additional ice cubes in distributions. «We knew this day would come, but we thought it was a problem that our children would face. Everything happens at a much faster rate», declares its founder, Guy Singh-Watson.
«The metal literally burns your hands.»
In southern Italy, 60-year-old Pietro Chifarelli also resortes to night shifts. «From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. it's impossible to work, metal literally burns your hands», report. The harvest of his black chickpeas is only done in the dark, as In the day the pods dry up so much that they break with the slightest touch, scattering the seeds on the ground.
In livestock farming: Massive animal deaths
In the livestock industry, Francesco Brachie in Lazio recruits ventilation and hydronephrification systems to keep cows cool, as abrupt temperature fluctuations reduced milk production in Italy up to 20% in some units, according to the Coldiretti Agricultural Association. Coldiretti mentions «two-speed climate crisis» with hail in the north and fires in the south, with damage amounting to hundreds of millions of euros.
At the same time, in France, New Aquitaine authorities recorded mass deaths in pig farms and poultry farms due to temperatures exceeding 40 °C.
Excessive costs
For Brachi, the cost is ejected as well. feed now requires watering every five days instead of ten, with water pumped from rivers using diesel engines, when the price of agricultural diesel rose from 0,90 to 1.45 euros per litre.
The wider economic costs are already unbearable.
Research by insurance broker Howden for the European Investment Bank It estimates annual, mainly uninsured, agricultural damage to the EU at EUR 28 billion.
According to Dan Fairweather, head of the Howden dietary systems and environment sector, average annual losses will reach EUR 40 billion by 2050. The heat lowers quality, as reduced protein cereals are placed on subordinate markets at a lower price.
«Not only does the volume of the crop fall, but its quality is also significantly reduced», adds noting that rural investor in Asia financed programs to supply farmers with helmets with built-in lighting for night work. In the United Kingdom, the National Farmers Association now supports the development of more durable varieties and the design of water storage infrastructure for drought periods.
Rapid climate changes cancel decades of experience. Singh-Watson, after 40 years of systematic recording of seed and harvest data to predict production, admits that violent fluctuations make his models useless: «All that information, we could just tear it up and throw it in the trash. They no longer have any value at all».
naftemporiki. gr
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