Climate change continues to reveal its consequences on our environment.
This time, it is the production of Iberian ham, or
jamón ibérico
, also called
bellota
in Spain, which is threatened.
Faced with drier summers, oak trees produce fewer acorns.
However, it is the basic food of these pigs intended to produce a high-end ham, reports an article from
The Guardian
relayed by
Ouest-France
.
Increasingly hot summers threaten production
If this ham, which sells for very high prices, is so renowned for its taste, it is because the pigs consume 8 to 10 kg of acorns for around two months.
Hence the name
bellota
, which means acorn in Spanish.
But this production would be threatened by climate change and increasingly dry summers, such as that of 2022, which was the hottest on record in Spain.
Towards an increase in prices for Iberian ham
“I expect this year, after last summer's drought and a rainless winter, to be the worst in forty years that I have worked in the
dehesa
[treed pasture].
The trees are struggling to survive the long, hot and dry summers that we are now experiencing, ”lamented to the British media Francisco Espárrago, ham producer at the head of the Señorio de Montanera farm in Extremadura.
The first consequence of this phenomenon would be to reduce production and therefore logically to further increase prices.
Some are also considering importing acorns from other countries to save their business.
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