Industrial tomato plants, grown for their juicy fruits used in sauce and paste, face a hard new normal in northern Italy. Summers run hotter, rain arrives at the wrong time, and water is under pressure almost everywhere. “Currently, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, and more than 90 percent of its consumptive use,” stated the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
A new field study from the Po Valley tested a simple irrigation tweak that saved water while keeping yields steady and improving fruit quality. The work compared full-season irrigation with regulated deficit irrigation in 2019 near Parma and in 2022 near Piacenza, and the authors reported less water use, stable tonnage, and better processing traits.
