Rain comes too late for Federico Rolle

In the Bigand area, the 70 and 80 mm on 7 February with strong winds has brought some peace of mind and generally improved the state of crops.

I expected my first soya bean crop planted in late October and November would improve as a result of the rain, particularly for the later maturing growth which will result in better pod development. However, the degree of recovery observed is very variable across soya crops in the region.

I hope the soya bean pods will fill well as a result, since crops are close to the grain filling stage and the rain will result in a better kernel weight and improve somewhat the number of grains/sq m.

Moreover, most backward crops have more leeway to generate reproductive structures and may show better results if we receive more rain in the coming days.

It is too early to assess precisely the yield, but I would expect shrinkage in yields of between 25 and 30% over last season with an average of 2.5-3t/ha.

In general, and despite the rain, Argentina has lost up to 40% of its soybeans and this harvest we won’t exceed more than 45 million tonnes from 18.8 million hectares, according to industry estimates.

It is difficult to obtain estimates for the corn (maize) crop, because fields are very uneven, but the losses will be about half of the estimated normal yields. The crops look bad.

The situation is severe in the districts that are considered to be the “soya bean jewels” of Argentina’s production region. As a result, many farmers will see losses, I hope that I am not one of them!

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