Assessing the environmental profile of orange production in Brazil

Abstract

Background, aim, and scope Brazil is the world’s largest orange producing country, with a total planted area of more than 820,000 hectares. The bulk of the oranges produced in Brazil (70%) is processed into frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) by large processing companies. Exports represent around 97% of the total FCOJ produced, making Brazil the largest world producer and exporter of FCOJ. The Brazilian citrus sector accounts for half of the world’s supply of orange juice and for 80% of the juice traded on the international market. The goal of this study is to characterize the Brazilian orange producers in terms of farm size, cultivated varieties, watering system and tillage practices. In addition, the study presents some aspects of the LCI of oranges grown specifically for the production of FCOJ in the two major orange-growing areas in Brazil (the Northern and Southern regions of the State of Sao Paulo) during reference crop year 2002/03 in order to generate detailed production inventory data and identify the potential environmental impacts of tillage, both of which are key to enable the formulation of sustainability parameters for the production of FCOJ in Brazil.