Spring sees scant hope for end of drought in Italy Farmers cut back planting, food production threatened Italian government to shore up lakes for storage By Michele Bertelli ABBIATEGRASSO, Italy, April 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - T here is only a feeble trickle in the irrigation canal feeding farmer Alessandro Salmoiraghi's field of kiwi fruit in northern Italy. "The constant problem is the lack of water," he said.