This year, a prolonged drought and scorching heat have hit agricultural production very hard. Cows are producing less milk, and bees are less willing to go in search of pollen, so that honey production in Italy has plummeted 70 percent from last year, according to estimates advanced by The Wall Street Journal. Compared with most other regions of the planet, the climate is changing faster in the Mediterranean. From the beginning of the industrial era to the present, average temperatures have risen about 1.5 degrees Celsius, more than in any other region of the world except the Arctic. The problems facing farmers offer a glimpse into the challenges of producing food on an increasingly warming planet. In southern Italy, farmers now sow tropical fruits, like mangoes. The cultivation of such fruits - bananas, mangoes and avocados - in Italy has tripled in the past five years and now occupies about 1,200 hectares of land in Sicily, Calabria and Puglia. In northern Italy, the increasingly hot weather has allowed large-scale cultivation of tomatoes and olives, crops that until 15 years ago were exclusive to the central and southern regions of the Peninsula. Lack of rainfall does not make grapes grow, it shrivels them, while heat can increase the alcohol content of wine and dampen the characteristic flavors of the land. Winemakers are trying to protect their livelihoods from the increasingly severe impacts of climate change and also to plant grape varieties that can better withstand drought and heat.
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