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The Spanish agricultural insurance programme Agroseguro expects record compensation for the country's winegrowers this year. In spring 2023, vineyards suffered from frost, and later in the year from extreme drought and hail. Damages to vintners are estimated at over 100 million euros, Agroseguro said last week. That is over 50 per cent more than last year - and the highest amount since the agricultural insurance system was founded in 1978. Agroseguro's largest ever payout for vineyard damage was 83.5 million euros in 2021.
Drought and several hailstorms made for a "very difficult year", Agroseguro spokesman Aitor Moriyón told Decanter magazine. "We had problems with the biggest drought in Spain's history and a very difficult September with rain, wind and hail." According to Moriyón, climate change is leading to increasingly harsh conditions for Spanish winemakers, who have experienced several drought and hail records in recent years. Agroseguro's total compensation for agricultural damage is expected to exceed 970 million euros this year. This is the highest payout amount in the history of the insurance.
Spain is the third largest wine producer in the world after France and Italy. The Spanish harvest is expected to be 20 per cent smaller than last year, according to the industry association Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias Castilla-La Mancha.
(ru / Decanter)