His fields are nothing but desolation, with rice stems slowly dying in the sandy ground.

"Under normal circumstances, I would never have been able to ride my motorcycle over the field," Vicini explained to AFP.

"At this time of year, the plants would be up to my knees and the rice field would be flooded," he said.

"Here, they're tiny, because the water needed to irrigate them has never arrived."

Vicini's "Stella" farm, located in the village of Zeme in the Po Valley, 70 kilometres (43 miles) southwest of Milan, is part of Italy's "golden triangle" of rice paddies.

Europe's leading rice-growing region—which supplies Italy and the world with the country's famous arborio for risotto and many other varieties—stretches west from Pavia in Lombardy to Vercelli and Novara in Piedmont.

Vicini said the area's last "decent rain" came in December.

"It's the fault of climate change," said the 58-year-old farmer, who estimates his income has fallen by 80 to 90 percent.

Enrico Sedino, another farmer in the area, is even more worried.

"If there's no more water, I can lose up to 100 percent of my turnover," he said.