“The panorama is very worrying”: the weather does not let go of the campaign and the soybean and corn campaign is complicated

The weather continues to pose problems for the current agricultural campaign and the future of the harvest of soy and corn, the main contributors of foreign exchange to the economy through exports. In addition to the drought situation we are going through, the high temperatures of the last few weeks have been added and, in mid-February, early frosts are now expected for tomorrow.

With a marked drop in temperatures being recorded in various parts of the country at the moment, the National Weather Service (SMN) predicts that this Saturday at San Luis and the southwest of Cordoba the minimum temperatures would vary between 3 ºC and 8 ºC, while to the west of La Pampa they would be between 8 ºC and 10 ºC. In these areas, the agency forecasts frosts, following the entry of a polar wave from Patagonia which will favor a marked drop in temperatures from this Friday to reach the highest intensity on Saturday, while Sunday the values ​​would be reset according to the seasonality of the time. All of this could complicate summer crops.

The weekly report presented yesterday by the Agricultural Estimates Department of the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, said above-average temperatures over the past seven days are further conditioning potential soybean yields, as nearly 44% of the planted acreage is defining them. In addition, it was pointed out that the most compromised areas are the Center-North of Santa Fe and Center-East of Entre Ríos.

“Collaborators are reporting plant deaths, felled lots and images showing symptoms of heat stroke in the center of the agricultural zone, while no rain is expected in the short term”, they underlined from the entity and added that there are projections of a drop in temperature over the next few days that could affect the paintings in southern Buenos Aires and La Pampa.

As far as the national level is concerned, on the progress of the agricultural campaign, the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange has put an end to the sowing of corn. It reached 7,100,000 hectares, or about 600,000 hectares less compared to the previous campaign. At the same time, the start of the harvest of the early batches in Santa Fe and Entre Ríos, registers lower yields than those expected by producers at the start of the campaign, due to the effects of the lack of rainfall.

Compared to the situation in the central zone, the Rosario Stock Exchange (BCR) reported yesterday that rainfall was insufficient to mitigate the damage caused by the high temperatures of the past few weeks, where 81,000 hectares of late corn have been lost and more than 50% of premium soybeans are in fair condition. to medium bad.

“Crops in the region were subjected to temperatures above 30°C for more than 50 hours between Tuesday 7 and Monday 13 February. The maximums exceeded 38°C and the extreme value was recorded by Pozo del Molle, Córdoba, with 40.3°C”, commented the BCR technicians, adding that “the cumulative values ​​of the last week (Friday 10 to February 16) They were even far short of what was needed to offset the negative effects of the intense heat wave, let alone to mitigate the high levels of accumulated deficit. Half of the region added between 10 and 30 mm and the other half up to 10 mm. This combination of drought and high temperatures has been devastating for many batches in poor condition. »

All of this has resulted in the loss of 7% of the late corn and 40% is in fair to poor condition, and the fields in Very good conditions decreased from 55% to 10% of the area, 50% good, 30% fair and 10% bad. And as for first-class soybeans, the private report detailed that regular to bad fields reach 60% of the area, and theThose in poor condition cover 20% of the area. “The outlook is very worrying,” the report concludes.

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