Unfair Practices : The failure of regulation

Penalties for unfair practices in 2023-2024 amount to only 665,000 euros against estimated damages of at least 350 million annually. in essence on prices and unfair practices the ‘dolce far niente’ of Italian politics continues. Remember this when you see the next tractors in the square or when you hear about the sad affairs of groups like Auchan, Casino, Carrefour Italia and others

Quick Take — Only 45.9% of the extra virgin olive oil (EVO) in Italy is domestically produced

.. the Italian product is down 36 per cent annually, while stocks from the EU are up 57.2 per cent, indicating a growing reliance on imports. Italy faces structural challenges: plant diseases such as Xylella [which has affected Italy’s most important olive-growing region and will not give up], prolonged drought, extreme weather events and afragmented agriculture

According to the most recent data, Italy produced around 240,000 tonnes of olive oil in the 2024/2025 campaign, down 90,000 tonnes from the previous year. However, domestic demand amounts to about 850-900,000 tonnes per year (domestic consumption of 550,000, plus 300-350,000 tonnes for export.

This results in a structural deficit of at least 610-660 thousand tonnes, covered through imports, mainly from Tunisia, Spain, Greece and other EU and non-EU countries…

In essence, Italian oil covers roughly 27% of requirements (domestic consumption and exports).

On this subject , olive oil is a good parameter for assessing the static nature of Italian agriculture, but also because the oil we put on the table is often very bad. Worth mentioning: a bill defining Italian extra virgin quality for the first time even though, unfortunately, Italian oil and supermarkets have once again become INCOMPATIBLE.

Below: Xylella and undercutting are two of the many problems of extra virgin oil

Compiled 21 June, updated 8 August 2025

Quick Take — The 25-year drought in the south-west of the USA could continue

A mega-drought has eroded water supplies, devastated farms and ranches, and fuelled fires across the American Southwest for 25 years. Not in 12 centuries has the region been so dry for so long.

Now comes worse news: relief may still be decades away.

According to new findings published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the dry spell is not just a bout of bad luck, no hard time that could end soon.

Instead, it appears to be the result of a Pacific Ocean temperature pattern that is “locked in” due to global warming, said Victoria Todd, a PhD student in paleoclimatology at the University of Texas at Austin who led the new research.

That means the drought could continue until 2050, perhaps even 2100 and beyond – in fact, Ms. Todd said, as long as humans continue to warm the planet….

Source

It also talks about the conditions in California that we have been following since 2013

Below: Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona, where July water levels are only at a third of capacity.

Credit…Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

Italian cheesemakers cool their cows to protect their milk

Butter – the cost of which has risen by 83% year-on-year – is made from milk fat and cream and therefore its production requires a lot of milk, the global supply of which has declined, partly due to the diseases that have affected dairy cow herds in Europe, and partly due to the high cost of feed. Then there is the issue of climate change that causes milk prices to skyrocket as Granarolo confirms

Quick Take — Europe hit by strong heatwaves

France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkey have been hit by strong heat waves with ‘extreme heat and drought’. After the current pause, the waves will resume from 12 July onwards, at least in Italy. Temperatures are very high in the Mediterranean Sea and river flows are at their lowest.

We recall the situation in Sicily, which is partly without water.

On the seas read: The rise in temperature of European seas since the late 1970s

Compiled on 6 July, updated on 7 July 2025