After the intense heat wave that hit all production regions in January, impacting potential yields, in February and so far in March there has been an important recomposition of the water regime which has allowed soybeans and to corn to improve their prospects.
In this way, according to the Rosario Stock Exchange, the national soybean yield recorded a slight improvement, reaching 30.2 qq/ha in March, just 0.3 quintal more than the previous report. The number of hectares lost remains at 750,000 and with 17.3 million hectares implemented in this cycle, Argentine soybean production is estimated at 50.0 million tonshalf a million tonnes more than estimated a month ago.
Soybeans, area by area
In Santa Fe, according to the Rosario Stock Exchange, from the north of Rosario to the vast area of influence of Rafaela, soybeans have seen improvements that contribute to increasing the average production by almost a quintal. The province would consolidate 36.7 qq/ha, leaving behind last year’s very low level of 13.2 qq/ha. Córdoba follows with a monthly increase of 0.9 and an average of 32.2 qq/ha, far from the best scores (36.5 qq/ha) but also far from the 15 qq/ha of the last cycle. In Buenos Aires there is a small downward adjustment, leaving 29.6 qq/ha (against 17 qq/ha in 2022/23). In Entre Ríos and following the SIBER numbers of the Entre Ríos Stock Exchange, there is a significant drop: 3 qq/ha compared to a month ago, due to the poor performance of 2nd choice soya, which occupies 60% of the cultivated area. In northern Argentina, what happens with rainfall over the next few days will be important to continue to limit damage, since soybeans are between fruiting and starting to fill and rainfall has been low and very mixed for most of February.
Corn, threatened by the leafhopper
In some parts of the central area the corn harvest has already begun and the signs are not the most favorable. In addition to showing a slight delay compared to the previous campaign due to the shift in sowing dates, the heat shock is generating lower yields than expected.
“The harvest began with values around 100 qq/ha, well below the 110-120 qq/ha expected for early corn. The “thinning”, the loss of weight in the filling of the cereals due to the heat wave, greatly influenced the first batches being harvested”, warns the Rosario entity, and then focuses on a particular problem of this campaign.
“What raises all the alarms in the central region, particularly in the provinces of Córdoba and Santa Fe, is the extent and damage observed by spiroplasma in late corn,” they say.
It is a disease associated with a vector: the leafhopper. Although this disease is typical of the north of the country, this year, due to the weather conditions (lack of water and heat), the staggered way in which it was planted and the increase in hectares of late corn, the parasite shows a population growth and coverage that had never been seen before.
“When it seemed that the batches of late corn, those planted from December 10 to 15 onwards, improved their production performance in Córdoba and Santa Fe, the comments of the technicians warning of the strong impact and damage multiplied in recent weeks. , ” underlines the stock exchange report, and then adds that the gravity of the situation seems to indicate that we are facing a new cut in Argentine corn production.
Meanwhile, the February data continues to hold: a yield of 76.9 qq/ha at a national level and an estimate of 57 Mt for 2023/24 corn production. Without changes to the cultivated hectare, the planting area is maintained at 8.61 million hectares, from which 1.2 million hectares are deducted to find the area dedicated to commercial wheat.
Source: Clarin
