The great heat and drought of recent weeks are aggravating the count boar damage on the Euganean Hills. Whole herds of thirsty animals raid the fields and the main seasonal crops in search of some water from the plants: on the Euganean Hills and in the immediate surroundings, Coldiretti Padova remembers, farmers always pay the price, despite attempts to protect crops with electrified networks and sound alarms. The latest sensational episode in Baone, on the land of the “Terre Laviche” company, led by the very young entrepreneur Alessia Parisatto. «We cultivate corn for popcorn and barley for brewing»He says« and last year, just to defend ourselves from wild boars, we installed the electrified fence.
But this time the boars managed to get in anyway and destroyed everything. On an area of about one thousand square meters we grow a variety of fine corn, ideal for popcorn, which we then sell directly to consumers. Thirsty wild boars destroyed all the corn plants which in recent months we had cultivated with extreme attention, also given the persistent drought. We have lost all the harvest, that is to say at least 5-6 thousand quintals of popcorn corn. In another plot we grow barley for the production of local craft beer: here too the wild boars have entered and destroyed about half of the harvest.
They also went through our garden, where we are now growing mostly pumpkins: it will be very difficult to save anything. It all happened in one night and we couldn't do anything - adds the young farmer - not even the electrified fence has stopped the wild boars that probably managed to open a passage in order to enter. It is difficult to work in this situation, in a moment all the efforts of these months have been thwarted and we have lost most of the harvest that constitutes the source of income of our company". The young Alessia Parisatto founded "Terre Laviche" to start quality and refined productions, such as corn for popcorn, a real success in the markets of Campagna Amica di Coldiretti Padova, but also barley for craft beer and vegetables Seasonal.
"We cannot accept that our companies continue to pay the increasingly high price of the wild boar invasion - underlines Massimo Bressan, president of Coldiretti Padua - a plague that risks compromising agricultural activity on the Euganean Hills as in the other lowland areas where wild boars are now a "historical" presence. We take note of the activity carried out in recent months for counteract the spread of wild boars and the commitments undertaken by the institutions after our continuous requests.
But episodes like this show that all this is not enough, more is needed, incisive and truly effective action is needed for our territory and above all they are needed adequate resources and refreshments for the affected companies, for farmers who lose the fruit of months of work within a few hours. And there is not only damage, wild boars are the cause of health problems such as swine fever which threatens thousands of our farms and a source of danger for public safety. Added to this is the impact on the ecosystem with landslides, landslides, destroyed terraces "(The Morning of Padua).