Abnormal heat and warmer winters have damaged Greek pistachio growers
Climate change is no longer a distant threat — it is already knocking on farmers' doors, altering nature's familiar cycles. Even drought resistant crops like pistachios, which have thrived for centuries in the hot Mediterranean climate, are proving vulnerable to a new enemy: mild winters. Without sufficient cold, the trees cannot flower properly, and yields drop by nearly half. The Greek island of Aegina, famous for its aromatic nuts, is facing the harsh reality that the climate is changing faster than farmers can adapt.
The Greek island of Aegina, about an hour's boat ride from the capital Athens, is Greece's leading pistachio producing region, with local nuts prized for their high oil content and rich flavour. On this small island of less than 90 square kilometres, pistachios and everything made from them — pistachio jam, pistachio wine and pistachio oil — are part of daily life. Pistachios are well adapted to high temperatures and can tolerate drought, so the extreme heatwaves Greece has experienced in recent summers have not seriously affected their growth. But warmer winters and fewer cold days are beginning to take their toll on the trees.
According to the Greek meteorological service, the winter of 2023 2024 was the warmest on record, and four of the six warmest winters on record have occurred in the last six years. Unusually mild winters can disrupt the early growth cycle of pistachios. "For normal flowering, pistachio trees require a period of low temperatures in winter, meaning temperatures below 7.2 degrees Celsius. If this cold period is not long enough, flower buds will not develop properly, and some may not sprout at all, resulting in a poor harvest," says Nikos Alifantis, a local pistachio grower and president of the Aegina Agricultural Association.
In recent years, Greece has experienced drought with insufficient rainfall. This is particularly noticeable on the southern islands, where seven islands declared a state of emergency this year due to water shortages. On Aegina, the drought has worsened the water problem, and the pistachio trees are suffering. Previously, each tree yielded about 6 kilograms of pistachios per year; now yields have fallen to around 3.5 4 kilograms.
To counter the threats of climate change and more accurately track pistachio growth, growers have introduced a precision monitoring system to digitise and precisely control the production process. The local agricultural authority has installed monitoring stations in every orchard on the island. These stations can track temperature, rainfall, wind speed and soil moisture in real time, helping farmers take timely action in case of any deviations.
Climate change is increasingly threatening traditional agricultural crops across the Mediterranean. Greece, as one of the countries most affected by rising temperatures, is seeking ways to adapt, including the use of digital technologies in agriculture. Aegina pistachios, which have protected designation of origin status, are an important export product, and falling yields could hit the local economy.
As CCTV+ reports. Farmers hope that monitoring systems will help them maintain harvests, but they acknowledge that without global emissions reduction efforts, the long term outlook remains uncertain.
