Excessively hot and dry weather that has baked Europe for the past three months is threatening harvests and could lead to food shortages and price rises, experts have warned.
In the United Kingdom, the impact of five heat waves and long spells without rain could trigger the "worst food security crisis in decades", analysts from Shore Capital Markets investment bank predicted.
Italy, Europe's largest rice producer, has 3,500 rice farms at risk of drying up and producing nothing.
Failed harvests are likely to lead to greater reliance on imported food and price hikes.
In England, the government's environment agency said 71.3 percent of the nation is in the grip of a "flash drought" that developed despite healthy rainfall last winter, which filled lakes and reservoirs.
