The climate on a global scale is constantly changing, and this leads to a number of consequences for both nature and us, humans. A large part of the crops that are grown for food are directly dependent on specific conditions such as temperature, humidity and seasonality. And when these change, the possible places for their cultivation also change.
Recently, we have had two similar examples that have attracted attention. The increasingly high temperatures in Italy have already made some parts of the country suitable for growing coffee - a crop that we mostly associate with Africa and a completely different climate.
The transition of coffee from the equatorial zones to the Mediterranean is undoubtedly even more significant than the shift of some wine varieties further north in Italy and France, for example.
And now the Moretino family has harvested its first harvest on the island of Sicily. A plantation on the outskirts of Palermo is producing for the first time coffee beans of the "Arabica" variety, which are grown entirely in Italy thanks to the efforts of the family, but especially to the tropical temperatures in the region recently. These are the main requirement for a successful harvest.
At the moment, it is 100 kg of fruit, from which a little over 15 kg of roasted beans are obtained. It seems small, but in this case we are talking about a project of the University and Botanical Garden of Palermo, which aims to study the adaptation of tropical crops to the new Mediterranean climate. Therefore, the idea of large-scale commercial production has been left for somewhere in the future.
And now coffee production remains mainly concentrated in Latin America, Africa and Asia, with the leading producing countries being Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Vietnam and Indonesia, explains Euronews.
Similar experiments like the one near Palermo have been carried out in other places in Southern Europe - such as the province of Granada in Spain and the Portuguese Azores. And scientists say that the coffee produced near the Italian city has specific aromatic notes reminiscent of raisins. It is these that distinguish them from coffee of the same variety grown in the traditional regions for this production. And before, there were farms in the area that grew coffee entirely in greenhouses.
Not only coffee, but also European rice
Rice is also not a traditional crop for the continent. Over 90% of the world's production is concentrated in Asia, with China and India being the leading producers. And now the warming climate creates suitable conditions for growing rice where this has never happened before - in the Netherlands.
The country's agriculture is based primarily on raising cows, but recently experiments with various crops not native to the country have become more frequent. The association "Land van Ons" ("Our Land") are launching a rice farming initiative with a slightly different goal.
It is addressing one of the country's most pressing environmental challenges - peat soils that settle when they dry out, leading to continuous subsidence of the land. And instead of draining them to use for livestock and other crops, which in turn leads to the release of harmful gases, farmers can grow rice on them, because the climate now allows it.
"Maybe 20 years ago we would never have thought that we would be able to grow rice in the Netherlands," says the chairman of the association. And he adds that this is as exciting as it is frightening, because it is evidence of serious climate change.
At this stage, the project is a pilot project and covers only 0.6 hectares, with the organizers hoping to obtain about three tons of short-grain rice, suitable for sushi or risotto. They are working with about 30 different rice varieties from different countries to determine which of them will grow best on Dutch soil.
Rice cultivation in the Netherlands is proving to be a rare combination of adapting to climate change and mitigating its effects. A similar problem with peatlands exists in much of Northern Europe, including Germany, Belgium and even the Baltic states, where this strategy could also be applied. And restaurants in the Netherlands are already showing interest in offering local high-quality rice to their customers, so there will certainly be a market for the harvest.
Source: lifestyle.bg