Orange Crop Killer and Frosts are straining the world’s dwindling juice supply

Citrus greening has also increased in Brazilian orchards, where the volume and quality of the harvest in 2021-22 were held back by frost and drought. According to Renato Bassanezi, a researcher at Fundecitrus, the disease has been found in 22% of Brazil’s main producing regions, up from 17% four years earlier. In some areas, half of the plants showed symptoms last year. The disease is spreading because of a lack of crop treatments, the weather and growers’ growing resistance to cutting down infected trees that are still producing, he said.