South America Calling

Southern Brazil has escaped the greatest risk of frost this week thanks to cloud cover and elevated winds. Skies clear out and calm down for Friday and Saturday, which may still bring morning frost to portions of southern Brazil's safrinha corn crop.

Cold air moving into southern Brazil next week could bring risks of frost to an otherwise good start to the safrinha corn season.

The lack of rain since April 16 and limited rainfall for a few weeks prior has soil moisture at critical levels for parts of the primary safrinha (second-crop) corn growing areas in central Brazil. The early start to the dry season may cause production declines in Brazil's...

While dryness will hurt corn in central Brazil for the foreseeable future, increased precipitation in southern Brazil and Argentina during the next 10 days should put wheat into a good situation prior to winter.

The distinct end of the wet season in central Brazil can vary wildly, but usually ends the first couple of days of May. La Nina tends to hasten that end by about a week. This year, it will be more than two.

While the safrinha (second-season) corn crop in Brazil has gotten off to a good start, causing production estimates to increase, that may be too optimistic as dryness that has shown up over the last month could have lasting impacts.

The safrinha (second-season) corn crop in Brazil has gotten off to a good start. But there are concerns that linger for the remainder of the season.

Showers will continue to move through Brazil during the next 10 days but may not be as intense as they likely need to be in central states while southern states see some additional drought improvement.

The wet season is winding down in central Brazil and is falling off rather rapidly in March. Southern Brazil and Argentina are still finding some weather systems moving through to bring showers, but they will be spottier on any heavy amounts. Corn in Brazil and both corn and...

After a period of good rainfall in Argentina and southern Brazil, a front moving into southern Brazil will shut off the spigot, leaving both regions drier for the next week and likely beyond.

A rainy period across drought areas in Argentina and southern Brazil is stabilizing crops and offering some improvement to soil moisture, but the rains will not be enough to make up for dryness that has consumed much of South America this year.

The month of March will not be the end-all, be-all for the second corn crop in Brazil but may cause some concerns for producers if the forecast verifies.

A period of showers looks to start up late next week (after Feb. 23) and could possibly last into early March. But the dryness already received and the dryness that follows should rob the potential benefit of these showers.

Colder-than-normal waters along the equator in the Pacific Ocean have led to abnormally dry conditions for Argentina and southern Brazil since November. Record heat that coincided with the dryness in early January took its toll on early planted corn and soybeans. The weather...

Gains in the good-to-excellent crop ratings in corn and soybeans have been trimmed in Argentina this week. The outlook for the next several weeks does not offer much optimism for the crops.

Heavy rains have fallen across Argentina in the 12 days since Jan. 15 and have amounted to significant totals and a turnaround from recent dryness.

Scattered showers started to develop in Argentina Jan. 15 and will be in the area through Jan. 27 before moving farther into Brazil and returning to a drier La Nina pattern. Will the rains be enough to undo the drought?

After weeks of hot and dry conditions that have caused crop conditions to steadily decline, widespread heavy showers are forecast for about a week across Argentina and Southern Brazil.

There has been no significant change to the wetness across central and northern Brazil, and the dryness across Argentina and southern Brazil. That is a worrisome outlook for both areas.

Rainfall has been very generous for central and northern Brazil. But continued wetness may cause other issues for soybeans and first-crop corn, and possibly second-crop corn.