Italy is experiencing heavy rains for more than a week, causing flooding of many wheat fields in the country. According to farmers and grains traders this causes delays in harvesting and thus for next year’s planting.
In some areas where sown fields have been flooded, sowing would have to start
anew, they said. “We will have delays in the sowing campaign. Moreover, we will
have a drop in sown areas and a drop in output,” Lorenzo Bazzana, analyst at
Italy’s biggest farmers association Coldiretti, told Reuters.
Even where
fields have not been sown yet, it would take a while for the land to dry enough
for tractors and other machinery to move in, causing further delays in the
campaign, Bazzana said. He said it was too early to give precise forecasts
because rains continued across Italy.