"Calamity" For N. Italy As Po River Sinks To Record Low - Crops Failing

[hatrack]

ANSA) - Rome, July 27 - Farmers sounded a fresh alarm on Thursday over the state of the Po, saying a prolonged drought had reduced parts of the northern river to their lowest levels in living memory .

Farmers' union Coldiretti said the Po, which is the country's longest and most used river, had dropped to the record level of 7.41 metres below sea level at Pontelagoscuro near Ferrara . The 675 km-long Po, which cuts across northern Italy from west to east, feeds irrigation channels on the fertile Po plain and is also a key shipping route . The lack of water has damaged crops with fields running dry .

Coldiretti stressed that this year was one of the driest in the past three decades and that only the droughts of 1992 and 2003 had been worse . It said it was a "calamity" for northern agriculture and that up to 50% of rice, corn, soya, vegetable and fruit crops had been lost with damages amounting to more than 500 million euros . They asked for the release of emergency funds for farmers in the six northern regions of Piedmont, Lombardy, Friuli, Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Liguria plus the island of Sardinia .

The worst-hit regions were listed as Piedmont, Lombardy and Emilia Romagna with each region claiming losses amounting to more than 100 million euros . Agriculture Minister Paolo De Castro admitted the situation was "dramatic" .

EDIT

http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-07-27_1273387.html

[villager]

1. perhaps the general strikes demanding action on the environment

...will beging outside the U.S., thus forcing economic change among our "trading" "partners," and leaving our "empire" with little choice but to adapt...

[orwell]

2. But...but...

...everything is fine...Sean Hannity told me so...