✻Forecast FarmClimate · Cultivation · Consequence
Tropical tree nut · Kernel

Brazil Nut

Bertholletia excelsa · Lecythidaceae

Brazil Nut is a tropical tree that grows best in the 20–36°C range with 2400–2800 mm of rain, cropping over a 365–365-day season. Today it is grown mostly in Brazil, Bolivia and Peru.

Optimal temp
20–36 °C
Annual rain
2400–2800 mm
Max altitude
200 m
Cold limit
12°C
Growing cycle
365–365 d
Climate-fit land
8 % world

How it grows

Brazil Nut
Photo: Richard N Horne · CC BY-SA 4.0
Brazil Nut
Photo: My Favorite Pet Sitter · CC BY 2.0
🌳 On a tree

Brazil Nut grows on a tree — the fruit ripens above the ground, up in the canopy.

What it’s worth to grow

$0.44 / kg at the farm gate
$$$$$
Staple / low-cost
pricier than 18% of all crops · #9 of 9 nuts
Ranked against similar crops — Nuts
Pistachio$6.02/kg
Almond$3.03/kg
Walnut$2.78/kg
Hazelnut$2.57/kg
Chestnut$2.05/kg
Areca Nut$1.37/kg
Cashew$0.79/kg
Coconut$0.50/kg
Brazil Nut ◀$0.44/kg

Farm-gate value = the price farmers are paid per kilogram (FAOSTAT producer prices, median of 7 positive country-year observations spanning 2018–2024). It tracks how costly and labour-intensive a crop is to grow — almonds and vanilla command a premium; potatoes and cereals are cheap staples.

Where Earth's climate suits brazil nut

Global climatic suitability map for Brazil Nut
marginal suitable good excellent unsuitable land
8% of world land

Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).

Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it

Actual production · FAOSTAT 2024
World harvest 0.1M t/yr
Brazil35k t
Bolivia34k t
Peru11k t
Latest reported year. Source: FAO FAOSTAT.
Climatic fit · computed
Where the climate suits it best
Brazil
Indonesia
Dem. Rep. Congo
Peru
Colombia
Venezuela
China
India
Ranked by suitable land area (EcoCrop×AgroClim). Climate permits far more than is farmed — economics and history decide the rest.

The climate where it grows

Brazil🌧 122% rain · wet
26°C · 2327 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Bolivia🌧 103% rain · near normal
25°C · 2168 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Peru🌧 131% rain · wet
25°C · 2425 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND

— mean monthly temperature   ▍ monthly rainfall — averaged over the actual growing areas (the suitable cells) inside each country, so it reflects where the crop is really grown, not the national average. AgroClim 1991–2025 normals. The 🌧 badge is the last 3 months’ rainfall as a percentage of the 1991–2020 CHIRPS normal (through 2025-12) — the current drought/deluge signal.

Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop

Temperatureoptimum 20–36°C · tolerates 12–40°C
-5°C45°C
Annual rainfalloptimum 2400–2800 mm · tolerates 1400–3500 mm
0 mm4500 mm
Soil pHoptimum 4.5–8.0 · tolerates 4.5–8.0
3.09.0

Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±10° · soil pH 4.5–8.

Growing calendar & hazards

Season

An annual cycle of roughly 365–365 days from sowing to harvest, so it is timed to fall within the frost-free, adequately-wet part of the year for the location.

What threatens the crop
  • Cold & frost. A frost-sensitive crop: temperatures near or below freezing damage or kill it, so it is confined to frost-free seasons and warm climates.
  • Wet & disease. A thirsty crop that needs abundant rain; in the wettest climates, humidity brings fungal disease pressure.

Related crops

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