Worst Drought in 40 Years Puts Brazil’s Major Crops at Risk
- World’s top shipper sees threat for coffee, sugar and soybeans
- Dry weather to persist over crop areas in coming weeks
Destroyed crops at a sugarcane farm following wildfires in Brazil on Aug. 27.
Photographer: Victor Moriyama/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
First came wildfires that scorched sugar cane fields. Now, the worst drought in more than four decades is threatening coffee and soybean crops in Brazil.
From May through August, some key agriculture areas faced the driest weather since 1981, according to natural disaster monitoring center Cemaden. And there is no relief in sight: there’s no rain in the forecast for at least two more weeks, a period when coffee trees usually flower and farmers start planting soy.