Mar 07, 2019
Early 2018/19 Corn Yields in Argentina are Good
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Argentina corn - The best corn in Argentina is going to be the early planted corn in central Argentina. The weather has generally been beneficial and farmers are reporting some very good early corn yields. The early corn harvest has started across central Argentina with early yields coming in very good in the range of 8,000 kg/ha (123 bu/ac) to as high as 13,000 kg/ha (200 bu/ac).
The corn in the more southern areas continue to be short on moisture with some areas experiencing a frost last week. There is not much corn in these areas and the yield potential is generally much lower than in central Argentina.
In their weekly report, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange rated the corn as 9.9% poor to very poor and 55.8% good to excellent, which is essentially unchanged from last week. The soil moisture for the corn was rated 23.9% short to very short and 27.3% optimum to surplus, which was an improvement from last week. The early planted corn in Argentina 42% mature with the later planted corn 72% pollinating and 3% filling grain. The corn harvest in Argentina is probably less than 5%.
Argentina soybeans - In general, the weather last week in Argentina was highly variable. Some areas continued receiving beneficial rains while other areas continued to stay dry and there were patchy frosts last Wednesday morning in the southern production areas.
Much of the central production areas received good rains last week as the soybeans were filling pods. As a result, farmers in the region are expecting soybean yields 8-10% above the 5-year average. In contrast, the southwestern production areas remained mostly dry last week with limited rainfall in the forecast. The frosts last week also occurred in the dry southwestern regions.
Parts of Argentina experienced some very cold temperatures last week. In southern Cordoba, many official reporting stations registered low temperatures in the mid-30's. Further south in the province of La Pampa temperatures were even colder with many farmers reporting frosts. It was not a killing frost for the most part, so the amount of damage was probably limited. Temperatures this low are very unusual for this time of the year and local agronomists warn that these temperatures could impact pod filling for soybeans and grain filling for corn.
The first soybeans harvested in Cordoba are coming in with very good yields. In an interview with Agrovoz, a farmer in central Cordoba harvested 170 hectares of Group 4 soybeans planted in mid-October with yields averaging between 3,500 to 3,800 kg/ha (51.8 to 56.2 bu/ac). He is also expecting good yields for his corn as well.
In their weekly report, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange rated the soybeans as 11.1% poor to very poor and 47.3% good to excellent, which was a slight improvement from last week. The soil moisture for the corn was rated as 16.1% short to very short and 33.9% as optimum to surplus, which was an improvement from last week.
The early planted soybeans are rated as 47% filling pods and 6% mature. The later planted soybeans are 34% setting pods and 7% filling pods. The soybean harvest in Argentina is probably less than 1% complete.