Spring rains don’t always come when hoped. Rain-filled springs fill reservoirs but Pressure crops. A report from the State Meteorological Agency shows April was the wettest and coolest month on record in Alicante Province. The weather brings a clear positive signal for drought relief, yet it harms other crops and sectors that had been thriving. The almond harvest could drop as much as 70 percent according to agricultural groups. The average temperature stood at 12.6º, slightly cooler than the reference of 13.0º, while precipitation reached about one hundred liters per square meter, more than double the 1981-2010 climate average of 49.6 l/m2.
According to La Unió, frosts in March and April damaged much of the production area, with estimates indicating a 70 percent harvest reduction from the previous season. The impact extends to Christmas, where nougat prices may rise in Alicante and Xixona due to the need to use domestic almonds and broader market effects as producers turn to imports. Initial estimates from both Asaja and La Unió put losses at around eight thousand tons this year, equating to a financial gap of about 17 million euros.
The rains persisted across wide areas, limiting sunlight and delaying fruit set, while fungal diseases further shortened the harvest prospects. Some manufacturers have even considered halting products altogether.
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In terms of temperatures, the standout moments were the cold records during the early days of the month, with both maximum, minimum, and average temperatures on the 3rd and 4th dipping to the lowest values in the Valencia Community. The morning of the 3rd was the coldest April day since 1986.
Normal precipitation showed April to be extremely wet in about 5 percent of the region. Monthly totals exceeding 200 l/m2 occurred in areas such as l’Alcoià, el Comtat and la Vall d’Albaida.
La Unió notes that efforts to offset losses have been hampered by agricultural insurance failures. The organization describes the insurance policy for the sector as a disaster and suggests that regional and national authorities are not addressing changes in income insurance, where subscription levels have often remained under 5 percent for many growers.
Some producers consider the insurance inadequate and ineffective. Coverage does not always align with damage, protected production, or rain-fed farming areas, especially in recent years when climate change has influenced outcomes. In many cases, growers facing this year with low coverage may end up without any protection at all.
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The organization highlights that alongside bad weather, insufficient insurance support and phytosanitary problems, rising production costs have squeezed profitability. The trend across the last two years points to downward price pressure for many crops, with some varieties facing the steepest declines as the food chain costs are not fully passed along to consumers.
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La Unió also points to structural issues within the sector. The CAP plan proposed to Brussels last December excludes many small producers from aid, creating a narrow safety net even in low-yield regions for almonds, carob, and hazelnuts. Debates surround eco-regimes and phytosanitary practices, while hazelnut growers urge urgent measures to reshape CAP rules to protect livelihoods, align agricultural insurance with sector needs, stabilize prices, and curb rising production costs across the Valencian Community.
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The sector seeks action from national authorities through the agriculture department to raise awareness about a situation deemed unsustainable. Almond farming in Alicante has shed about 30 percent of its hectares over the last two decades due to low profitability. Some growers are shifting toward organic production to preserve dried fruit viability.
After price declines in several campaigns and a crisis caused by the bumblebee plagues across regions, many farmers have abandoned almonds in favor of crops like pomegranate, which now covers over two thousand hectares in the province.
Generational change in the countryside has slowed, and many farms were absorbed by urban pressure. Over the past five years, the almond belt has contracted, with 65 percent less land used today, even as some trees are slowly being replanted. The trend shows a longer-term decline since the 1980s.
In March, sunshine hours in Alicante were far below those in many European regions, with the province recording a limited number of sunny days. The March 2022 season proved unusually wet and cold in the Valencian Community. The average temperature stood at 10.2 ºC, roughly one degree below the 11.2 ºC climatology, while rainfall reached 270.4 l/m2, a figure several times higher than the 1981-2010 climate average projected to be seven times higher for the month.