Stellios Boutaris manages vineyards in Naoussa, Amyndeon and Santorini and faces intensifying climate impacts across the Mediterranean. He is investing in irrigation, water storage and ground vegetation to retain moisture and lower temperatures, and is acquiring higher-elevation land and planting more resilient grape varieties. He recently spent €250,000 on irrigation and plans a further €200,000 for a 40-hectare Santorini project. Producers are incurring rising costs that must be passed to consumers, making cheap wine from southern Europe harder to find. Droughts, flash floods, wildfires and high temperatures are reducing yields and threatening traditional crops.
I'm not ready to change jobs, says Stellios Boutaris, a wine producer with vineyards in Naoussa and Amyndeon in northern Greece, as well as on the island of Santorini. But, he adds, we cannot do it the way our fathers did. Boutaris is determined to keep producing in the region and keep the family business going but says the curve is not looking good as the climate crisis puts pressure on producers across the Mediterranean.
Boutaris, who heads the Kir-Yianni wine producers' group, is one of thousands of farmers in the south of Europe battling to continue producing on the lands their ancestors have farmed for decades, or even centuries, as increasingly extreme weather, such as this summer's wildfires, rage across Spain, France and Greece. Their struggles mean the price of wine, olives, citrus fruits and vegetables are expected to continue to rise, as droughts, flash floods and high temperatures affect traditional crops in the Mediterranean.
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