Italy: The production of pine cones in Sicily has been reduced by 90%

Published 2021년 10월 28일

Tridge summary

Sicily's pine nut production has seen a drastic decrease, from 90,000 quintals annually to just 5-6 thousand, due to a combination of factors including an insect invasion, climate change, and forest fires. The Leptoglossus occidentalis insect, originally from the United States, has caused significant damage to pine cones, leading to lower yields. Despite the loss, the Ministry of Agricultural Policies has prohibited the use of a biological control measure identified by University of Palermo entomologists. As a result, many pine nuts in the market are imported, with Italy's production primarily used for local consumption and culinary traditions. Consumers are urged to ensure they are not consuming pine nuts treated with harmful substances.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Pasta with sardines. Pasta with arriminati broccoli. Pasta was there. Sarde A Beccafico. And also the caponata. There are many traditional Sicilian dishes that cannot do without pine nuts. Except that, for some years now, there are very few pine nuts in Sicily. Once upon a time, the production of pine nuts on our island reached up to 90,000 quintals per year; today the production has been reduced to 5, perhaps 6 thousand quintals of pine nuts per year. What is happening? Let's start by saying that the crisis is national. In part, the drastic reduction in the production of pine nuts is caused by an insect that arrived from the United States of America and, according to some observers, in part it is also caused by climate change. There is also a third factor: the fires that have incinerated many pine forests in recent years. ITALIAFRUIT NEWS made the point on the national scenario: "In the golden years in our country about 900,000 quintals of pine nuts were produced, while in recent ...

Source: Inuovivespri