Bad weather and hailstorm have damaged agriculture in the Bergamo and Imagna Valley

Fresh Blackberry

Caio Alves

Published Sep 8, 2020

A wave of bad weather has hit agriculture in Bergamo last week. The region was struck by heavy rains particularly affecting Val Cavallina e l’Alto Sebino areas more instensively, and also hit Imagna , Seriana and Brembana Valleys.

Initial monitoring by Coldiretti Bergamo technicians is being processed in order to evaluate the damage and to assist the affected farms.

In l’Alto Sebino area, the olive trees were hit by hail and rain gusts and the harvest that was being configured to be good was fully compromised. The violence of the storm brought to the ground the olives not yet ripe, broken branches and uprooted even some olive trees causing extensive damage, that in some cases reached up to 90%. This is yet another blow to the producers of Bergamo olives after last year's disastrous harvest.

In Berzo San Fermo a violent hailstorm hit a portion of the territory causing - a few days after the harvest - damage in the vineyards for about 60-70%. A farm found itself in the middle of a hailstorm that completely destroyed the cultivation of blackberries and raspberries, ripped off the roofs and demolished the greenhouses. The meadows ready for the third hay cut were cleared and the forage was completely lost. Damage is also counted in the Brembana Valley. Heavy rains and strong winds knocked down the artichoke terraces.

The greater frequency of violent seasonal displacements, short and intense precipitation and the rapid transition from the sun to bad weather, compromising crops in the fields have costed over 14 billion euros in a decade according to estimates, between losses in national agricultural production and damage to structures and infrastructures in the field.