Lidl, Aldi and Edeka hit drought crisis - popular cheese is running out
Created: 07/07/2022, 05:00
By: Julian Kaiser
A severe drought in the northern Italian Po Valley is worrying farmers there.
German consumers could also feel the consequences.
NRW – Whether with spaghetti Bolognese, a Caesar's salad or a gnocchi dish – Parmesan is a must for many cheese lovers when it comes to the culinary enjoyment of summer dishes.
But as RUHR24 knows, the popular cheese specialty could soon disappear from the shelves of supermarkets and discounters such as Aldi, Lidl or Edeka, or at least become significantly more expensive.
Po (lat. Padus) | river in northern Italy |
length | 652 km (longest river in the country) |
source | Cottian Alps |
mouth | the Adrian Sea |
Drought crisis: Draghi cabinet declares a state of emergency for the northern Italian Po region
According to consistent media reports, the worst drought in 70 years is rampant in northern Italy.
According to CNN
, the Po River, which criss-crosses northern Italy from the Cottian Alps to the Adriatic Sea, is at a worrying low.
The reasons for this are both the unusually dry winter, which resulted in only little snowmelt in the Alps, and the dry spring, which brought only sporadic precipitation.
As reported by
ARD
, the government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi has already reacted and declared a state of emergency for the northern Italian regions of Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto by the end of the year.
In this way, the rationing of drinking water, which is already affecting the people of the Po Valley, can be ordered more unbureaucratically and thus more quickly.
Drought crisis: Farmers in the Po region in northern Italy are suffering from a lack of water
The cities and also the industry of the region are dependent on the water of the longest Italian river, for example in the generation of hydroelectric power, transport or irrigation.
The northern Italian farmers of the Po Valley see, among other things, the Parmesan production under threat and are now sounding the alarm.
According to the Augsburger Allgemeine
, production in the nearby consortium, where the famous Parmigiano Reggiano is made, has
already had to be scaled back significantly because less milk is arriving that "meets the quality standards."
Drought crisis: Withered fields threaten cattle supply and thus milk production
To ensure this, however, the cows of the northern Italian farmers, including the 300 Friesian cattle at Simone Minelli's dairy farm near Mantua, must be supplied with water.
If the farmer wants to deliver 30 liters of milk at the end of the day, his animals need 100 to 150 liters of water to drink every day.
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On the other hand, if the animals do not get watered plants to eat and not enough to drink, the milk quality suffers.
According to
Chip
, some of Simone Minelli's fields have already dried up.
Buying feed for the animals is also difficult, as other farmers are also suffering from the drought.
Drought crisis: Parmesan production requires high milk quality
The cattle used for milk production therefore urgently need water so that their milk can even meet the strict standards for Parmesan production - otherwise there is no seal of approval.
If the animals cannot be adequately cared for or cooled with water to prevent them from overheating, Minelli will have to reduce their numbers for better or for worse.
But then he will also be able to sell less milk.
Parmesan cheese could become scarce at retail chains such as Aldi, Lidl or Edeka.
© Gelhot/Fotostand/Imago;
Shotshop/Imago;
Collage: Sabrina Wagner/RUHR24
The extent of the drought becomes clear when looking at the numbers.
According to Coldiretti, the country's largest farmers' association, the drought in the Po region as a whole threatens "more than 30 percent of the country's agricultural production and half of the Po Valley's livestock," reports
Chip
.
Drought crisis: German Parmesan lovers may soon be starving
It is still unclear whether the crisis will hit German Parmesan fans hard.
In addition to possible gaps in the cheese counters of Aldi, Lidl and Edeka, an increase in sales prices, as was recently the case with around 50 food retail products, is quite conceivable.
In any case, Germany is one of the largest importers of Italian Parmesan, reports the
Stuttgarter Zeitung
, citing figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
As a result, Germany imported more than 41,000 tons from Italy in 2021, including Parmesan, which is very popular in this country.