May 07, 2018
Last Day to Harvest Soybeans in Mato Grosso was last Saturday
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
The last day to harvest soybeans in Mato Grosso was Saturday, May 5th. After that date, the only soybeans allowed in a farmer's field will be volunteer soybeans that germinated from seed spilled during harvesting. Starting on June 15th, even those volunteer soybeans must be eliminated.
The last day to harvest soybeans in Mato Grosso used to be June 15th, but it was moved to May 5th two years ago. The planting period for soybeans was also changed at the same time. Soybean planting in Mato Grosso may start September 16th and it ends December 31st. The new regulations also expressly prohibits the planting of safrinha soybeans.
On June 15th will be the start of the Soybean Free Period and it will end on September 15th. During that period of time, farmers and landowners must eliminate any live soybean plants growing in their fields, either planted or volunteer. This includes live soybean plants around storage or transportation facilities, along roadways that border their property, or along rail lines that may pass through their property.
Eliminating live soybean plants in your field or around your storage facilities is relatively easy, but eliminating live soybean plants from along the roadway or a rail line that borders your property is much more difficult.
Many of the trucks that haul soybeans in Brazil were designed to haul dry goods and not grain. As a result, you can often see soybeans dribbling out the back of the trucks as they move down the poorly maintained highways of Brazil. These soybeans can land in the side ditch and after a rain, these soybeans can germinate along the side of the highway hidden in the grass and weeds. I would say it is virtually impossible to eliminate these volunteer soybeans.
The Plant and Livestock Sanitary Institute of the state of Mato Grosso (Inde-MT) will start sending out teams of inspectors after June 15th looking for live soybean plants. If they find live soybean plants on a property, the landowner will be notified and they will have ten days to eliminate the plants. If they do not eliminate the plants, they can face monetary fines. Individuals can also call into a hot line to report any live soybean plants.
The goal of this program to limit when soybeans may be grown and to eliminate any live soybean plants between growing seasons in an effort to limit the spread of soybean rust spores from one growing season to the next. Most scientists feel this program has been quite successful in limiting the spread of the disease.
Even though Mato Grosso is by far the largest soybean producing state in Brazil, it generally has fewer cases of soybean rust compared to the states in southern Brazil. During the 2017/18 growing season, the state of Rio Grande do Sul registered 125 cases of rust, Mato Grosso do Sul had 114 cases, Parana had 113 cases, but Mato Grosso had only 58 confirmed cases of soybean rust.