Standing in his field of stunted, withered corn, Santi Caudevilla is very concerned. "If the weather doesn't change, it will be zero. Nothing will be collected," he said. Caudevilla, who grows corn, sorghum and other crops in Gimenells, Catalonia, has been hit hard by the severe drought that has hit this part of northeastern Spain. Rainfall has been low for years. "We are in the desert. This is a desert today,” he said. The lack of water is becoming an existential crisis for farmers like Caudevilla, and he fears for the future of his profession. It's getting harder to make ends meet as crops shrivel up for lack of water - or can't be planted at all. Droughts are a reality in this corner of Spain. "They are typical of the Mediterranean climate of Catalonia," said Albert Ruhi, a freshwater ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who is originally from Catalonia. But the significant lack of rain and snow has made that rain and snow much, much drier, he told CNN. "This is the worst period we've had in the last 100 years," Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Water Agency, told CNN.
(, a , CNN)



