Hail disasters wreak havoc on agriculture abroad, hail net become a key means of protection.

[Global Agriculture News] In recent years, global climate change has intensified, and hail disasters have occurred frequently in many major agricultural countries, resulting in large-scale damage to crops and a sharp drop in farmers' income. To meet this challenge, Hail Net, as an efficient and economical protective measure, has been widely used in Europe, America, Japan, Australia, South Africa and other countries and regions, significantly reducing the damage of hail to agriculture.

Hail ravages the world, causing heavy losses to agriculture

According to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), hail causes more than $10 billion in agricultural losses worldwide each year. Among them, major agricultural production areas such as the United States, France, Italy, and Argentina are particularly severely affected.

United States: In 2024, Colorado and Texas suffered severe hailstorms, thousands of hectares of corn, wheat and vineyards were destroyed, and losses amounted to $800 million.

Europe: In recent years, hail has caused a 30% reduction in grape production in the Bordeaux wine region of France, and some wineries have been forced to raise prices to make up for the losses.

Australia: A rare hailstorm in New South Wales in 2023 caused fruit growers such as apples and pears to face a **40%** drop in production.

Traditional disaster prevention measures, such as artificial hail suppression (rocket or aircraft spreading catalyst) and insurance claims, are costly and unstable. Therefore, more and more farmers are turning to hail nets as a more reliable solution.

Global application of hail net: scientific protection, economical and efficient

Hail net are usually made of high-strength polyethylene (HDPE) or polypropylene (PP) materials, with UV resistance, corrosion resistance, aging resistance, strong tensile strength and other characteristics, and a service life of 5-10 years. Its advantages include:

✅ Intercept hail: effectively buffer the impact of hail and protect fruits and leaves from mechanical damage.

✅ Regulate microclimate: Some hail nets have both sunshade and windproof functions to reduce the impact of extreme weather.

✅ Eco-friendly: Reduce the use of pesticides (insect and bird prevention), in line with the trend of sustainable agriculture.

Successful cases:

Northern Italy-Hail net are widely used in apple-growing areas, reducing hail losses by 90%, and at the same time, the rate of high-quality fruits is increased due to reduced fruit cracking.

Western Cape Province, South Africa - After using hail nets in vineyards, the amount of insurance claims dropped by 70%, and the winery said that "the investment can be recovered in two years".

Nagano Prefecture, Japan - Hail nets + intelligent sensing systems are automatically deployed to respond to sudden weather, and the damage rate of pear trees has dropped from 50% to 5%.

Future trends: Intelligent hail prevention systems help precision agriculture

With the advancement of science and technology, hail nets are developing in the direction of intelligence. For example:

🔹 The "weather linkage hail prevention system" developed by the Netherlands can automatically cover crops within 10 minutes after the hail warning.

🔹 Israel tests "retractable hail nets", which are folded up on sunny days to ensure sunlight and deployed instantly in bad weather.

Expert opinion:

Dr. Emma Carter, an expert from the International Agricultural Research Organization (CGIAR), pointed out: "Hail nets are a 'low-cost, high-return' solution to extreme climates, especially suitable for promotion by small farmers in developing countries."

Summary

Hail disasters have become a common challenge for global agriculture, and the popularization and application of hail nets provides a practical guarantee for crop safety. In the future, combined with intelligent monitoring and precision agriculture technology, hail nets are expected to become the "invisible guardian" of global food security.