Posted on 06/12/2024 5:26:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Need proof climate change is affecting you? Just look at the price of your favorite OJ.
Your next glass of orange juice may taste a little off. That's because it may not be made entirely with oranges.
According to the 2024–2025 study by Fundecitrus, a research association in Brazil formed by the nation's citrus growers and manufacturers, the orange forecast for the year is downright abysmal. And that's a very bad thing when you consider that Brazil is the leading producer of oranges in the world.
The report explains that diseases like citrus greening and pests have caused a significant drop in this year's potential yield. However, neither of those things compares to the impact of climate change.
"The data shows that, once again, the climate emerges as the main cause of the significant drop in production," the findings state. "Since June 2023, the citrus belt has been affected by the El Niño phenomenon, classified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as one of the five most intense ever recorded." The last El Niño event, it added, had a "severe impact" on the crop, causing an 18% drop in production. But, this season, it's also contending with high temperatures, high evapotranspiration rates, and "an intense water shortage."
And things are only going to get worse.
Former White House Chef Says Coffee Will Be 'Quite Scarce' in the Near Future "In addition to the already observed climatic adversities, which resulted in a reduction in the number of fruits per tree," the team said, "the forecast of drier weather over the next six months is expected to continue impacting the crop, further hindering fruit growth and increasing the challenge of keeping groves supplied with water even where irrigation systems are installed."
As the findings shared, the average yield this season is 691 boxes per hectare or 1.38 boxes per tree, marking an almost 25% decrease compared to the 911 boxes per hectare, or 1.81 boxes per tree harvested in 2023–2024.
The team ominously added, "Should this production forecast hold true, this will be the second smallest crop since 1988–1989, when forecasts using the objective method began to be performed in the citrus belt."
Brazil also isn't alone in its low orange yield. As Quartz pointed out, the May report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that citrus production in Florida is down 5% from April.
How Does Climate Impact Wine? All of this has not only sent the price of orange juice skyrocketing — with prices of orange juice increasing 26.82% since the beginning of 2024 and prices for orange juice concentrate jumping to $4.95 per pound, more than doubling the price from a year ago — it's also leading companies to rethink orange juice altogether.
Beverage Daily reported, the UK company Coldpress is launching a mandarin juice to give consumers an alternative that offers many of the same benefits as oranges, as is the U.S. company Uncle Matts, which told the publication it's launching new teas and wellness shots to balance out its brand.
And they aren't alone. Food Ingredients First reported, several other orange juice bottlers around the world are considering similar measures.
Why Olive Oil Is About to Get More Expensive “We need to be open to it. Citrus breeders have been successful in breeding orange-like hybrids that look, smell, and taste like sweet oranges with significant tolerance to huanglongbing,” Rick Dantzler, chief operating officer at the Citrus Research and Development Foundation, told the publication.
Still, the switch to mandarins and other fruits could take time, as it involves potentially changing regulations and diverting fruit from one pathway — usually right to grocery stores — to another.
“Many fruits are destined for the fresh market, and it is not easy to divert this flow to the juice industry," Francois Sonneville, senior analyst for beverages at Rabobank, shared with Food Ingredients First. Sonneville added that processing mandarins to be used in orange juice blends will produce "logistical problems," including the fact that many orange processing plants are located in "places convenient for oranges," not mandarins. So, for now, you may just be stuck paying extra for that bottle of OJ.
It's been a really long day, and I think I'm not "picking up what you're laying down", but any irrigation.
OJ has more sugar than coke. You don’t need OJ. Its not good for you.
Idiocracy.
Told you it’s been a long day.
I’ve had OJ every morning since I was in college. Not quitting just yet.
The sky is falling!
The sky is falling!
Run and hide...
Under Trump I was able to buy 12 oz. of frozen orange juice for $1.19 at Aldi.
I remember well the great summertime elm canopies of Albany, NY.
“I haven’t noticed a big increase in OJ prices. I pay $3.18 for the half gallon of Minute Maid.”
Take a look on the front to see how many ounces of product are in your half gallon package - hint: it’s not half a gallon any longer.
Hope I can always get Cranapple!
Correct! The particulates in the smoke represent nuclei ("seeds") around which ice crystals can then form. This freezing of water vapor already present in the atmosphere releases so-called "heat of condensation" which slows a further lowering of the temperature (this may seem paradoxical or counter-intuitive, but it's good Physics). The layer of "frosting" that forms on the oranges (or grapes) also provides a minimal amount of thermal protection.
We now return you to your regular programming...
Regards,
Water, like from the toilet?
Don't plants also crave electrolytes?!
Regards,
Once again, it isn’t climate change, it is citrus greening. That wiped out 27 of my trees and all the neighbor’s trees.
Drought stress doesn’t help, but Florida has always been drought prone that is why so many native plants and animals can tolerate or deal with frequent fires. The la Nina / el Nino cycle is a cycle normal to Florida, not a change in the climate.
It surely is a religion.
El Nino and La Nina are terms that started in the 16 century to describe what the indigenous peoples of Central and South America called the cyclic changes is ocean temps and weather. The names were given to it by the colonizing Spanish but the phenomenon was known for centuries prior.
Today, the climate cultists, with collective memories measured in days, see the normally 7 year cycles as the first occurrence, caused by SUVs, and declare the end is near. Time to live in caves and eat bugs.
It’s easy to feed this garbage to someone under 20 years old. They haven’t lived a complete El Nino-La Nina-El Nino cycle yet. Plus focusing on 10ths and 100ths of degrees, when temperatures were measured differently in the past, makes for scary looking Excel graphs.
It seems like the older one gets the less likely they are to fall for this crap. Hmmm.
EC
We’ll said. Through careful observation, I believe the El Nino pattern has shifted north. Up until 10 or 12 years ago, maybe more, here in Florida ww would have cold fronts come through once or twice a year in the fall and winter months. It would rain for a whole day or more. The fronts now seem to sweep through Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia these days. There is a similar pattern in the summer but we still get daily rains because of the humidity and the east and west sea breezes colliding over the state. Yes I’m old...
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