The last years have been convulsive for the Spanish field. After more than a year suffering a drought that put many against the strings, the arrival of an exceptional humidity period between autumn of 2024 and the recent spring seemed to bring the long -awaited relief. However, the arrival of summer has brought a script.
Heat and fire. The intense heat seen in recent weeks has been the climax of a remarkably hot summer, with an exceptionally warm month and one month of August on the way to be (if the imminent cooling does not avoid it). Both extreme heat, as the fires associated with this heat wave have introduced new threats For crops.
Direct and indirect damages. The damage associated with heat and fire can be both direct and indirect. It is evident that fire can destroy crops whole and that heat It can also affect to the productivity of plants, but the effects are even more complex.
Fire can be an indirect risk. For example, areas that have not been affected by the flames They can be inaccessible During the fires, either due to smoke or by the cut of access roads. Extreme heat can also limit the time that workers can dedicate to work abroad.
To this can be added the impact that heat and fires have on the Water availabilityincreasing the ghost of water stress even after almost a period of extraordinary economic bonanza.
The oil. Recently, Agricultural Associations such as Asaja, Coag, UPA and Union of Unions They pointed to EFEAGRO Some of the crops that could be more affected by heat and flames. Among them, one about to go through one of its critical points: oil.
The Olivar sector fears that this season is not kind to the olive harvest. Water stress can affect the maturation of the fruit so the sector believes that the current situation could lead to olives, dynamiting the (Already scarce) Hopes to recover from the sector.
The other crops at risk. The list of harvest at risk by heat is wide. Includes crops like the vineyardpotato, tomato and fruit trees. In the case of grapes, for example, lack of water can replace its phenolic maturation with maturation by dehydration, they explain from the sector, which impacts the quality of the product.
Not even crops such as cereals are saved. Although a good part of the harvest has already been collected, in some areas fires can prevent farmers from finishing the collection of these crops.
What is true for agriculture can also be for livestock. They are not rare the times that fires are primed with farm animals: even when the fire does not put them directly, their pastures and their abbrevics can disappear overnight.
More quantity, less price. Heat and fire add uncertainty to a year marked by Important drops in prices of agrarian products. A very marked fall in some crops but that in general responds to the recovery of agricultural productivity after years of drought. A recovery for which now the sector fears.
The good news is that they await us a few days, Maybe weeksof thermal relief. The issue now is whether it is down the temperatures and rainfall that is expected these days are able to relieve this situation.
In Xataka | We thought we were facing a “historical” oil harvest. Farmers now foresee a reality bath
Image | Matt Palmer / Eberhard Grossgasteiger
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