Southern Europe faces vegetable shortages and rising prices

Extreme temperatures across Southern Europe, including Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France, have triggered a significant vegetable shortage and sharp price increases during the summer of 2026. Massimiliano Caccarini, owner of Sipo, reports that prices for leafy greens, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and celery have reached record highs.

The crisis is driven by a combination of factors: extremely high temperatures causing low crop yields, rising production costs for fuel, fertilizers, and pesticides, and increased labor costs at processing stations due to the need to sort through sun-damaged or wilted produce. In some regions, such as Romagna, celery production has reportedly dropped by as much as 70% compared to average yields.