Sicily's farmers are looking for innovative alternatives to traditional crops

https://www.dw.com/en/sicilys-farmers-go-tropical-in-the-face-of-climate-change/a-46775174

by ranit • 7 years ago

52 47 7 years ago

buboard3• 7 years ago

Cool story, and definitely climate warming is real, but this doesn't scale. Hot weather is not new to the mediterranean, and neither are droughts. The mediterranean basin is blessed with being able to cultivate almost anything. It is certainly possible to cultivate tropical fruit and tropical animals are not strangers (lions used to live in greece). But there are at times harsh non-tropical winters and at times snow. These plants can't survive those that's why they were never grown en masse.

Ensorceled2• 7 years ago

These plants can't survive those that's why they were never grown en masse.

Now they can. That's the point of the article.

mahesh_rm• 7 years ago

As an Italian who's been living at the equator for a while.. Would you bet a big part of your capital knowing that a snowstorm in January can wipe out 20 years worth of growing avocado or mango plants? As much as 2.7 degrees in average temperature rise, though dramatic, does not prevent the possibility of a month in a winter of rigid temperatures, where your whole avocados and mangos plantation freezes to death.

Udik6• 7 years ago

The article mentions that they've been in the business of cultivating and exporting avocados since the 1960s:

"Continella's father started an avocado export enterprise in the 1960s, when such crops were pretty much unheard of in Sicily. Now, their tropical garden is the biggest on the island, and home to towering green 50-year-old avocado trees."

So yes, they could survive also before and they did.

It's a bit strange to claim that thanks to the climate change of the past 40 years you've been growing avocados for the past 50.

buboard3• 7 years ago

eh, no, snow and occasional hailstorms have not stopped

onetimemanytime2• 7 years ago

>Now they can. That's the point of the article.

Until a Siberian cold destroys them. Europe had one a few years ago, it ruined all such exotic fruit in Eastern Europe (at least). Now they are planting hardy crops because in 10-15 years odds of another cold front are almost 100%

ranit• 7 years ago

lions used to live in Greece

Lions didn’t disappear from Balkan Peninsula because of the harsh climate, people wiped out them.

zeristor3• 7 years ago

I imagine the Romans wanted them for the Coliseum (or is it Colosseum? That's a whole rabbit hole I don't need to go down at the moment)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lions_in_Europe#His...

HelloNurse3• 7 years ago

Greek myth is full of lions, they went extinct in historical times.

ptah• 7 years ago

Does that mean I can grow olives and oranges in Scotland without a greenhouse now?

zeristor3• 7 years ago

On a south facing slope

pmontra• 7 years ago

Why not, Scotland already has the Inverewe Gardens [1], it's only going to get hotter (but maybe some harsher winters [2])

[1] https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/inverewe/highlights/gard...

[2] http://www.meteo.psu.edu/holocene/public_html/Mann/articles/...

dharma1• 7 years ago

The growing season is much shorter, maybe a cultivar that will flower early so the fruit have longer to grow and ripen. I've got two olive trees in London that are blooming right now and produce fruit, albeit small compared to southern European olives. They did turn dark last summer. Raw olives are very bitter - brining is key.

Frost might be an issue in Scotland - mine are in large pots

est• 7 years ago

And it should cost a few seconds to actually hold the like button to like. This avoids unnecessary likes.

blunte2• 7 years ago

Adaptive, not innovative.

adamc• 7 years ago

Adaptation is an innovation if few others are doing it.

blunte2• 7 years ago

Fair enough. But the bar is rather low when it comes to commercial farming.

Now a jump to permaculture principles (which also eschews monocultures) would be the kind of innovation that would lay longer before the next “innovation” was required.

beat• 7 years ago

This story does suggest the logical response to the climate change Chicken Littles who say we will no longer be able to grow crops. Sure we can, just different crops.

Then again, apocalyptic belief systems generally have little to do with either reasoning or positivity.

edit: Before you flame me, I fully believe in climate change - I'm not denying anything here. I'm just saying humans can and will adapt.

namdnay• 7 years ago

I'm just saying humans can and will adapt.

The human race as a whole can and will adapt. Just as we have to particularly virulent strains of influenza. That doesn't mean it won't be a tragedy

HelloNurse3• 7 years ago

Looking forward, I'll welcome European bananas and dates and cocoa, but what other crops will they replace?

Sicily's farmers are looking for innovative alternatives to traditional crops

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