Due to economic hardships and high costs in the shopping cart, Italians have reduced their fruit and vegetable purchases by 9 percent in 2022, the lowest level since the turn of the century. Coldiretti's examination of CSO Italy/GFK Italia data for the first eight months reveals this result. Fruit retail prices increased by more than +6.5% in October. While retail prices have increased, farmers are often not compensated enough to cover the production expenses of crops already devastated by severe weather, hail, and drought. In fact, in addition to the harm caused by climate change, the budgets of businesses are threatened by price hikes of all types, from greenhouse heating to fuels for handling equipment, from raw materials to fertilizers, with expenditures more than doubling, up to packaging.
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