The worst drought in 70 years has meant salt water from the Adriatic sea is flowing back into the sluggish Po, Italy's longest river, doing further damage to crops hit by an early summer heatwave.
The flow of sea water into the Po makes irrigation almost impossible in parts of Italy's agricultural heartland, as it risks burning the already parched crops.
The Po runs for more than 650 km from west to east across the north of Italy, a region which accounts for around a third of the country's agricultural output. "Without rain, the water flow of the Po has dropped considerably and so it's not enough to counteract the rising sea water in the river. This means that in our channels we have salt water that is not suitable for irrigation," she said.
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