Farmers scramble to protect one of the world's most iconic crops from failure — here's what you need to know
Brazil's iconic Citrus Belt — one of the world's top orange-producing regions — is facing its second-smallest harvest in nearly four decades. Experts blame climate shifts for the disappointing season, a growing concern for farmers around the world.
The 2024-2025 orange season in Brazil ended with a total production of 230.87 million boxes weighing 90 pounds apiece. While this official estimate sounds like a large quantity, it's the second-smallest crop in the past 37 years. The culprit: climate shifts.
FreshPlaza reported that the official total is a 0.65% drop from the initial estimate of 232.38 million boxes predicted at the beginning of the season and a 24.85% decrease from the previous season's 307.22 million boxes.
Experts attribute the reduced yield primarily to poor climate conditions, including prolonged drought, unusually high temperatures, and a delayed fourth bloom. Between May and August 2024, rainfall was 31% below expected levels and temperatures were 3 to 4 degrees Celsius higher than the 1991-2020 average.
Overall, the season saw an average rainfall 20% below the historical average. Despite the weather challenges, FreshPlaza highlighted that the "late but significant" fourth bloom helped mitigate overall losses.
However, premature fruit drop — largely driven by citrus greening, a bacterial disease worsened by heat and drought — led to an estimated loss of 50 million boxes. Pests such as fruit flies further compounded the damage.
Brazil's citrus crop struggles highlight broader challenges facing the agricultural industry due to rising global temperatures.
As pollution-driven climate shifts intensify, farmers around the world are grappling with increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, including rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and erratic rainfall. These conditions make it harder to maintain healthy crops, which lowers yields, raises produce prices, and destabilizes farmer livelihoods.
It's also important to note that citrus farming has a high environmental impact. Farming these particular crops requires significant water and energy, so when crops fail or are lost to disease, those resources are effectively wasted.
This reality underscores the urgent need for more sustainable and resilient farming practices — and the importance of planet-conscious living overall.
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Farmers in Brazil use a range of practices to keep their citrus trees healthy and productive. Unfortunately, they often use pesticides and fertilizers to combat citrus greening, which can pollute nearby ecosystems and harm wildlife. But there are alternatives.
Farmers have also seen success removing sick trees, using protective enclosures, and employing good sanitation practices such as clearing fallen fruit and debris. Meanwhile, scientists are working to develop more effective, less costly ways to treat the disease.
To protect against unseasonable weather, farmers use wind machines, sprinklers, and heaters to maintain proper temperatures and protect fruit. Drip irrigation, mulching, and soil testing can also help ensure that rising global temperatures don't negatively impact soil health.
The Brazilian government is offering financial assistance to farmers struggling with citrus greening, which is costly to treat and prevent. According to Energy Innovation, many farmers are also investing in crop insurance to mitigate the financial risk associated with increasingly unpredictable weather.
At the same time, more resilient crop varieties are being developed and introduced into citrus farming to better withstand planetary warming and its impacts.
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