Italy: Potatoes, a year “in the trenches” against climate change

Unapa's update on the 2024 campaign. Good production despite adverse weather conditions and wireworms The good performance of the last potato marketing campaign had generated renewed optimism among Italian farmers. As is well known, in fact, Italy depends entirely on seed tuber imports, but the flooding that hit central and northern Europe, combined with the spread of viruses and the drastic reduction in investments, have led to a very limited availability of propagation material. Despite this scenario, in Italy the areas cultivated with potatoes have maintained their historic hectares. This represents a positive and stabilizing aspect in terms of national needs. The picture is drawn by Unapa (National Union of Potato Producers' Associations), which confirms that for this year the Italian cultivated area has remained substantially in line with previous years - approximately 47,000 hectares - despite the fact that Italian farmers - like their European colleagues - have had to face ...