Sep 12, 2014
Soybean Planting to Start Next Monday (September 15th) in Brazil
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Next Monday, September 15, will be the end of the 90-day soybean free period in most of central Brazil. On that date farmers are allowed to start planting their 2014/15 soybean crop. In many years it is too dry to start planting on the very first day, but this year in many areas of central Brazil there has been above normal rainfall in early September and as a result, many farmers will start planting right away on Monday.
The first soybeans to be planted will be the early maturing varieties which will be ready to harvest starting at the end of December. These early maturing soybeans are highly desirable because they afford ample time to plant a second crop of cotton or corn after the soybeans are harvested.
These early maturing soybeans (90-100 days) also mean that the crop will be exposed for a shorter period of time to soybean rust and various insect pests. As a result, farmers can save on the chemical applications by planting early maturing soybeans as early as possible. Even so, the Mato Grosso Soybean and Corn Producers Association (Aprosoja-MT) recommends that farmers should plan on applying a minimum of two fungicide applications in order to control soybean rust.