T he grey skies were a welcome sight for drought-hit farmers in France's Nouvelle Aquitaine region. But rare rains earlier this month offered only brief respite for agricultural producers, whose weather woes are now being compounded by growing conflict over scarce water.
Spain is the EU’s biggest producer of fruit and vegetables, and almost half of its exports are grown by farmers like Abellaneda, the crops irrigated by huge transfers of water from the River Tagus hundreds of kilometres to the north.
Spanish farmer Juan Francisco Abellaneda s salads and watermelons fill the shelves of European supermarkets winter and summer. But maybe not for much longer.