Dive Brief:
- Coca-Cola is joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other businesses in deploying artificial intelligence as the beverage giant looks to help solve a dramatic decline in orange supply due to the spread of a devastating plant disease.
- The Minute Maid producer is a founding member of the MIT Generative AI Impact Consortium, which aims to use artificial intelligence to address “real-world problems” that help society. Other members include OpenAI, India car and airplane maker Tata Group and SK Telecom in South Korea.
- The group’s first major initiative, project "Save the Orange," aims to combat citrus greening, a disease that threatens orange production. This initiative unites experts from agritech, computer science and life sciences, among other groups.
Dive Insight:
Since citrus greening first emerged in Florida more than two decades ago, the disease has infected most of the state’s orange trees and triggered billions of dollars in losses to the global citrus industry. The disease has spread to other major orange-producing countries, affecting nearly 45% of Brazil's Citrus Belt in 2024.
Without improvements in detection, management and treatment, the global orange supply could disappear in the next 25 years, Coca-Cola said. “Save the Orange” was developed in collaboration with Fundecitrus, a group of Brazilian citrus growers and juice producers, and Invaio Sciences.
“As a leading provider of fruit juice worldwide, we have a unique perspective on the critical issue of citrus greening,” Christina Ruggiero, president of the global nutrition category at Coca‑Cola, said in a statement. “We stand with the orange farming community and are closely collaborating with Brazil-based research lab Fundecitrus to find a viable solution.”
Once responsible for 45% of the world's oranges, the U.S. is now just responsible for 5% of production, according to USDA data. In the top-producing state of Florida, output has declined by more than 90% since 2005 due to citrus greening and destructive hurricanes.
The USDA forecast the U.S. will produce 2.5 million tons of oranges in 2025, down sharply from 5.5 million tons a decade earlier.
Coca-Cola said AI and other emerging digital technologies are “transforming nearly every aspect” of its business, from R&D and marketing to inventory management and supply chain procurement. So far, Coca-Cola has used AI to make advertisements and to develop products. In 2023, it rolled out Coca-Cola Y3000, a limited-edition beverage the company said was the first flavor co-created with human and artificial intelligence.
