Catalonia’s farmers face threat of drought … and a plague of hungry rabbits

With water reserves running low, Spanish farmers are also struggling to protect crops from thousands of rabbits starved of fresh grass

With much of Spain facing severe drought after an exceptionally dry winter that followed the hottest summer on record, Alex Foix is planting vines in dusty ground near the village of Verdú in the province of Lleida. He hopes to have enough water for the vines to survive their first year, but that is not his only worry: it is the rabbits he fears most.

Unusually, the area worst affected by drought isn’t in the south of the country but in the north-east region of Catalonia, where – in addition to a severe water shortage – farmers are facing a plague of rabbits. With a lack of grass and water, the animals are destroying crops, especially young wheat and barley, and eating the bark on vines and fruit trees.