Suddenly, even the farmers around Lake Garda are no longer sure of water

It is a pleasant spring day on Lake Garda in northern Italy. Rudy and Christine Straass, tourists from Dachau, Germany, take advantage of the still mild temperatures with a mountain bike ride along the shores of the lake. With its deep blue waters and picturesque fishing villages, surrounded by lemon and olive trees, cypresses and variegated oleanders, Italy’s largest lake is a top tourist destination for driving holidays, especially from Northern Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Rudy Straass (55), an insurance agent in Munich, has been coming here on holiday since childhood. Never before had he seen the water level of Lake Garda, which stretches across the northern regions of Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino-South Tyrol, be so low. The planks of a wooden pier on the boulder-strewn beach show that the waterline has receded some seven meters this early in the year.

But the most dramatic drought picture of last winter is just opposite this bank. In the distance, ‘drought tourists’ walk with their trouser legs rolled up over a narrow strip of land that leads right through the lake to the tiny island of San Biagio. That island, popularly known as the Rabbit Island, is located just opposite the coast of Manerba and has become a peninsula very early in the year due to the drought. “Usually the water is not low enough until mid-August that you can walk to the island,” says Rudy, “but this year it was already February.”

The hydrometric level of Lake Garda (a measuring instrument for the water height, which does not correspond to the total depth) is at 55 centimeters these days. That is already slightly better than in April, when the level dropped to 46 centimeters, the lowest level since 1953. But both values ​​are well below the average of 109 centimeters over the past seventy years.

“Each centimeter corresponds to approximately four million cubic meters of water,” says Pierlucio Ceresa, general secretary of the Comunità del Garda (Community of Garda), a coordination and consultation body of the municipalities on Lake Garda. “So fifty centimeters less means an amount of almost 200 million cubic meters less water in our lake.”

He hastily adds that this should not deter tourists: “Water sports and boating are possible even during the driest summer, as the lake averages 135 meters deep.” The tourism industry on Lake Garda is comparable to the business figure of a multinational company. Tourists from more than seventy countries spend around 4 billion euros a year.

However, Lake Garda is not only a holiday paradise for swimmers and water sports enthusiasts, but above all a crucial freshwater reservoir for agriculture in this fertile region. The fact that the water level has recently risen slightly is because farmers have already decided to irrigate less, says Ceresa. But the hot summer months are just around the corner: “In July and August, farmers will experience the effects of the drought and the low water level.”

Giuseppe Zoli (58) is well aware of this. The farmer, together with his wife and two of their three children, runs a 500-hectare family business in Asola, in the province of Mantua, forty kilometers south of Sirmione, the most visited resort of Lake Garda. “The water from the lake is the only source of irrigation for our crops,” he says while walking through the extensive yard.

The Zoli family mainly needs water for growing tomatoes. Their tomatoes are destined for industrial processing into tomato paste and passata, including those of the Mutti brand. “Tomatoes don’t need a lot of water, but the water supply must be constant,” he says, while spraying the tomato plants that have yet to be planted in the yard. The plants are planted in different cycles, because his customers count on a constant yield from July 20 to the end of September. That’s why Zoli can’t just plant early tomatoes, which would allow him to get the full crop before the hottest and driest time of the year.

For several years now, the company has been using drip irrigation, an efficient form of watering, in which the plants are sprinkled very locally. “First we applied that technique to part of our field, but now we do it everywhere,” says the farmer.

Loss of income

The Zoli’s also raise livestock for meat production, produce their own fodder, and also grow the hard wheat variety used to make pasta and corn for breakfast cereals. After the very dry summer of 2022 and the mild winter that followed, the family decided to sow an early maize variety this year. For the first time, the company took climate change so strongly into account when making a decision, says Giuseppe Zoli.

Read also: France is also ravaged by drought in winter, ‘all signals are on red’

The early corn harvest offers certainty regarding the harvest, and the saved water will soon go to the tomatoes. “The disadvantage of this, in turn, is that this early maize yields a quarter less than other varieties anyway, even if everything goes well and it rains soon,” says farmer Zoli. In short, he is already certain of a loss of income.

In this way, the farm weighs up every decision, recently also in function of drought and water scarcity. For the farmer that feels new and very unusual, with a water basin with an area of ​​370 square kilometers so close by. “For a long time it was downright absurd to even consider the possibility that one day the water from the lake would no longer be a security for us farmers.”

Crucial for food production

Just south of the largest Italian lake flows the Po, the longest Italian river. The basin of the Po is connected to the basin of Lake Garda, where, during the previous very dry summer, after much procrastination and protest, the administrators decided to temporarily help the Po river out of distress. Water was pumped from Lake Garda for a month and a half to guarantee the Po a minimum amount of water.

The area around the river is therefore crucial for Italian food production. The Po Valley has not stolen its nickname ‘Food Valley of Italy’. Almost a third of the typical ‘Made in Italy’ food products are produced here. The production of Parma ham, Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, pasta and wine depends on the availability of water. The Po Valley also accounts for half of Italy’s pig and livestock production. And the Lombardy region alone produces more than forty percent of Italy’s milk.

In picturesque Caravaggio, a municipality in the province of Bergamo where the parents of the famous painter came from, Roberto Pizzocchero (35) is the youngest manager of the family farm that he manages with his brother and sister. Their dairy cows produce 43 liters per day. Part of the milk is used for the production of gorgonzola in a neighboring village. Parma ham is made from their pork.

The Pizzoccheros have also recently had to take water loss into account, not only due to the drought, but also due to the windy climate. “Last year, depending on the plot of land, we produced 25 to 40 percent less fodder,” says the farmer. That feed must be purchased elsewhere. The farmer finds it difficult to quantify how much extra expenditure the company had to incur due to drought. After all, inflation has also increased the prices of raw materials. “That leads to a paradox,” says the farmer. “We have invoiced more, and yet our net profit will be lower.”

But one major cost item is clearly a direct consequence of the drought problem. The company chose to install an underground drip irrigation system. The plants are purposefully sprinkled just below the soil, so that the entire site no longer has to be wetted. As a result, it also remains cleaner and less weeds can grow. The Pizzoccheros could count on European subsidies, but still paid 240,000 euros out of their own pockets.

Millions of euros in damage

According to the Italian farmers’ organization Coldiretti, last summer’s drought in the northern region of Lombardy alone caused hundreds of millions of euros in damage to corn, soy, grapes, vegetables and rice. No other industry, according to the organization, is so strongly confronted with the consequences of climate change.

Farmers can use smarter irrigation systems and grow less thirsty crops, water remains essential for agriculture and food production, says the interest group. The farmers are asking for more prevention and planning. Last year, the Italian government declared a state of emergency because of the exceptional drought and Rome released millions of euros in emergency aid.

But are emergency measures enough? “After another dry winter with little rain and little snow, the water reserve in the region around Bergamo is already 40 percent less,” says the Pizzoccheros, who are anxiously awaiting how hot and dry this new summer will be.

A version of this article also appeared in the May 6, 2023 issue of the newspaper.