Concern about Italy's milk production due to drought

Since May last year, the milk supply in Italy has been continuously at a higher level than the year before. Especially last autumn, production was between 5% and 10% above spring levels. In May 2022, however, the supply fell to a lower level than in May 2021. Extremely dry weather seems to affect production. According to European figures, more than half of Italy's dairy cattle are housed in the regions hardest hit by drought.

State of emergency
In the meantime, the Italian government has declared a state of emergency in the five northern provinces because of the drought. After a dry winter last year, Italy also had a dry spring. In the north of the country, the water level in the River Po has fallen to historically low levels. In addition, salty seawater is penetrating deeper inland into the river, which can threaten many crops.

Many farms depend on the water from the river for crops and livestock. Further down the chain, declining milk production can lead to a smaller production of, for example, Parmesan cheese. An Italian dairy farmer expresses his concern to CNN about the situation and fears a shortage of feed in the future as a result of the weather conditions. That would mean reducing his herd size, and he's not the only one facing such issues.

A foreman of the Italian Breeders Association calculates in Italian media that a dairy cow needs to drink up to 160 liters of water at this time of year to maintain milk production. He warns that milk production in regions in the north and center of the country could fall by up to 25%.

Little minus about May
Milk supply in Italy amounted to 1.114.030 tons in May. That was a fraction (-3.000 tons) lower than in May 2021. The milk supply thus also took a first step back after the spring peak in milk supply that was reached in April. At that time, the milk production with a volume of 1.145.230 tons was still well above the level of April 2021 when the volume was 1.060.060 tons.