3 images Created 2 Aug 2023
Water and rice
WORK IN PROGRESS, SOON ON LINE
The work investigates the evolution of the largest rice sector in Europe - between Lombardy and Piedmont, in Italy - facing the climate change and after the drought that led in 2022 to the "water war", as defined by the farmers themselves .
In the mid-1800s, Piedmont's farmers grappled with water scarcity, prompting the Count of Cavour, then Minister of Agriculture and Commerce for the Kingdom of Savoy, to establish Ovest Sesia—a pioneering association that unified over 3500 farmers to manage water resources for the greater good.
This led to the birth of an irrigation system, based on to the construction of the remarkable Cavour canal, which is still today an enduring masterpiece of hydroelectric engineering.
Fast forward almost two centuries the irrigation system remains largely unchanged, but the shifting climate and the alterations in cultivation methods forces people to face a similar challenge of that time.
The work investigates the evolution of the largest rice sector in Europe - between Lombardy and Piedmont, in Italy - facing the climate change and after the drought that led in 2022 to the "water war", as defined by the farmers themselves .
In the mid-1800s, Piedmont's farmers grappled with water scarcity, prompting the Count of Cavour, then Minister of Agriculture and Commerce for the Kingdom of Savoy, to establish Ovest Sesia—a pioneering association that unified over 3500 farmers to manage water resources for the greater good.
This led to the birth of an irrigation system, based on to the construction of the remarkable Cavour canal, which is still today an enduring masterpiece of hydroelectric engineering.
Fast forward almost two centuries the irrigation system remains largely unchanged, but the shifting climate and the alterations in cultivation methods forces people to face a similar challenge of that time.
