Parts of northern Italy are facing the worst drought in 70 years, with the country’s longest river in danger of drying up, while Spain has been battling wildfires caused by a heat wave. .
The Po River, which runs nearly 400 miles from the Piedmont Alps in the west to the Adriatic in the east and irrigates the northern valley where 40 percent of Italy’s food is produced, is 10 feet below its normal level in some areas.
The Italian Confederation of Farmers has warned that there could be a reduction in fruit and vegetable production of up to 40 percent due to drought, the result of more than three months without rain and unusually high temperatures of up to 36ºC.
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