There are some items you expect to see at every grocery store—milk, potatoes, and maybe a bunch of fresh cilantro tossed in the produce aisle. If you’ve tried to track down cilantro lately, though, you’ve probably noticed the price is up and the supply is way down. Restaurants are cutting back on that herby green garnish, shoppers are coming up empty, and even markets in Mexico have started posting signs about scarcity.
In other words, cilantro is in short supply across major markets right now. This has stirred up concern for everyone from salsa lovers and taco joints to produce distributors and small farmers. While food shortages aren’t exactly new, cilantro isn’t often the culprit. Let’s break down what’s driving this—and what’s being done about it.
Why Cilantro is So Hard to Grow Right Now
You might not think a sprig of cilantro would be so sensitive, but growing it is trickier than it seems. Lately, the perfect storm of weather, pests, and staffing problems has made cilantro especially tough to bring to market.
Wild Weather and Climate Change
For starters, cilantro really prefers a mild, steady climate. It bolts (goes to seed) if it gets too hot, and it suffers in the cold. Unfortunately, those “just right” conditions are getting rare in key growing regions.
This year, there’s been a roller coaster of weather. California, one of the top U.S. suppliers, struggled through a long drought and then was hit with heavy rains that washed away precious soil and seedlings. Over in Puebla, Mexico—which supplies more than 40% of Mexico’s cilantro—hailstorms came through in the spring, damaging up to 60% of entire crop fields, including cilantro. Not just a little damage—some farms saw nearly two out of every three plants ruined before harvest.
So, climate change isn’t just a buzzword—these swings are a big part of why your local store’s cilantro shelf is empty.
Pests That Won’t Quit
Cilantro is especially tasty to certain bugs, and warm, damp conditions make that worse. Aphids (tiny plant-eating insects) are a huge problem this year. In Puebla, farms lost over 1,000 hectares of cilantro—an area about the size of 2,500 football fields—because aphids stunted growth or killed the plants outright.
When cilantro gets attacked, it turns yellow, wilts, and can dry out quickly. In humid areas, fungal diseases can also creep in, turning leaves mushy or brown before they ever reach harvest.
Plants are fragile, and with more bugs surviving mild winters, farmers need to spend even more on pesticides and pest management. It’s expensive, and it doesn’t always work.
Labor and Supply Chain Headaches
Even if the crops survive, there’s another hurdle: finding enough hands to get the cilantro from field to market. Like a lot of farms, cilantro growers in both the U.S. and Mexico have struggled to find enough workers. This isn’t just a pandemic hangover—it’s a longer trend, but COVID really made it worse. Without enough people to plant, weed, care for, and harvest cilantro, output just drops.
Then, there’s the shipping problem. Even when they harvest a good crop, farms still rely on trucks or other distributors to move cilantro—fast—because the herb doesn’t last long. Global supply chain slowdowns have made it harder to move product efficiently, meaning more cilantro wilts before it ever hits the shelves.
The Price at the Checkout—And for Farmers
All these challenges add up to one thing, and it’s probably not a surprise: cilantro is getting pricier for everyone.
If you’re a shopper, you’ve likely noticed the price per bunch has crept up. Restaurants that use a lot of cilantro in salads, salsas, and dishes like pho or tacos are paying a premium, and some have started using less or dropping it entirely until things calm down.
But the real squeeze is hitting farmers themselves hardest. In Puebla, for example, the cost to plant and grow cilantro has surged from about MX$20,000-25,000 per hectare in the past to between MX$60,000 and MX$70,000 right now. These are investments in seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, and labor. Even with more money thrown at the problem, yields are down—many farmers are seeing only about 70% of their usual crop. More money in, less cilantro out.
In practical terms, that means producers are spending a lot more for less reward. It’s testing the patience—and bottom lines—of many small and medium farms, especially in key regions.
Where the Shortage Hits Hardest
Not all cilantro comes from the same fields. And while shortages look similar in stores, the impact is shaped by where cilantro grows best.
Mexico is a global heavyweight for cilantro, especially the state of Puebla, which produces over 40% of the country’s total harvest each year. When hail or pests hit Puebla, it sends ripples through all export markets—including the U.S.
Other Mexican states like Baja California (with around 18,000 tons per year), Aguascalientes, and Sonora (each at just over 10,000 tons yearly) are also feeling the pinch, mostly from the same weather swings and pest outbreaks. The U.S. still grows a decent amount of cilantro too, mainly in California, but drought and erratic rain have led to similar shortages there.
Meanwhile, other global growing regions—like India or Egypt—ship some cilantro abroad, but they aren’t nearly enough to plug the gap when two of the world’s biggest suppliers get hit at once.
Unpacking the Future: Will Cilantro Get Back to Normal?
Right now, farmers, researchers, and distributors are all asking the same thing: is this just a blip, or is it the new normal? There’s not a clear answer yet.
If the weather stabilizes and aphid outbreaks drop, harvests could pick up next season or the one after. But there’s real uncertainty, since climate change is making the old “normal” a moving target.
Farmers aren’t just waiting and hoping. Some have switched to more drought-tolerant growing methods, like drip irrigation and shaded beds that can shield plants from scorching sun or hail. Researchers are also working on cilantro varieties that can resist pests better—think seeds bred to fight off aphids or tolerate funky weather swings. That’s progress, but it takes time to get those varieties to market, and not every grower can afford to pivot right away.
Some farms are trying out new pest treatments and rotating crops more regularly, hoping to confuse bugs and boost healthy soil. Community organizations and agriculture agencies in regions like Puebla are also trying to get the word out—encouraging smarter pesticide use and linking farmers up with government support.
On the business side, supply chains are still shaky, but distributors are adapting by buying from smaller, less traditional regions or encouraging restaurants and stores to use related greens—like parsley or culantro (a different plant with a similar flavor) when cilantro runs out.
For most of us, that means you might see cilantro come and go from shelves a bit unpredictably for a while. If you work in the restaurant or produce business, you may already be fielding questions about price hikes or sudden shortages. If you’re more curious about how these supply chain shakeups play out, there are some simple explainers available at news sites like Daily Business Voice, which follow the latest business disruptions.
Root Causes and Hard Lessons
Looking back over the past year, it’s clear the cilantro shortage isn’t just about one bad hailstorm or a few trucks running late. The biggest issue is resilience—or, really, the lack of it—in how we grow and move delicate, high-demand crops.
Extreme weather and new pests are hammering crops that used to be fairly stable. At the same time, shortages of workers and headaches in global logistics have exposed just how brittle those systems can be. While we might see some short-term solutions, the larger lesson is that our food systems have to get more adaptable. That could mean more research, new growing practices, or even more direct links between farms and shoppers.
For now, the cilantro shortage is a reminder that even the most familiar ingredients can quickly go missing when a few key factors line up. You might pay a little more, or swap in parsley for patties once or twice. Behind the scenes, though, there’s a flurry of activity—farmers battling bugs, researchers testing seeds, and supply managers betting on weather forecasts.
As for when cilantro prices and supply will settle down, nobody can promise a quick fix. It’ll depend on how well growers can shield plants from the next round of high heat or aphid attacks, and if shipping rebounds before the crop in the field wilts away.
In the meantime, we might have to live without that perfect tang of cilantro in every dish, but growers and suppliers are making changes that could help the next harvest ride out whatever comes next.
Also Read:
