South America Calling

The long-awaited start to the wet season for central Brazil is likely to start up late next week or weekend. But that occurs with spotty rains that increase through October. Very dry areas in the region will need to see significant rainfall before producers start planting.

Soil moisture across most of South America is very low for this time of year. Only small areas of the continent's growing areas are having luck with precipitation so far this spring.

Very dry conditions in central Brazil give concern to producers about on-time planting of soybeans. If the wet season rains are delayed, the crunch will be on for the safrinha (second-crop) corn and cotton season in 2025.

Soil conditions are awfully dry to start out the 2024-25 campaign in much of Argentina and Brazil. The weather pattern during the next couple of weeks is not favorable for very many down there.

South American farmers will start to plant their 2024-2025 crop in the next several weeks. Here are the areas of concern in Argentina and Brazil, as well as a closer look at what role a developing La Nina could play for this year's crop.

Soaking rains last week and this week brought the safrinha (second-season) corn harvest to a halt in southern Brazil with states like Sao Paulo making almost no progress. It is much the opposite in central Brazil, where progress is steady thanks to drier and warmer...

Since trading over $9 in May of 2022, September corn prices on Brazil's Bovespa exchange have lost half their value, when priced in U.S. dollars per bushel. After two years of falling prices, it is fair to wonder if the lows of the market are near.

It has been very dry for more than a month in safrinha corn growing areas in central and south-central Brazil. Many have not seen a drop in over six weeks. But a front coming up from the south gives some hope to a crop that is not yet mature and could use the rain that...

Intense flooding that developed two weeks ago has been exacerbated by continual rains that have fallen in the area. The active pattern continues for the next week with two more fronts bringing aggravating rainfall to the region.

Heavy rain that has fallen recently over the state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil has caused many issues with flooding including injuries, deaths and impact to both the harvest of the summer crop and planting of the winter crop. Heavy rain that continues there for...

The corn and soybean crop in Argentina had looked really good for most of the growing season. But late wetness has led to issues with pests, disease, the inability for the crop to mature properly, and especially harvest.

Wet season showers have effectively ended this week in most of Brazil, which puts the onus on fronts coming from Argentina to supply any excess moisture for the safrinha corn crop in central and southern Brazil. Corn conditions from here on out will be watched closely as the...

Though rainfall forecast for the next 10 to 12 days is fairly substantial, models are insisting on a cold front moving through shortly thereafter that will cause precipitation to decline over central Brazil a few weeks before the average end date of the wet season.

After some hefty rainfall in Central Brazil during the last several days, subsoil moisture estimates from satellite observations barely budged. More rain is in the forecast. Can this create some better moisture?

A cold front in southern Brazil will move up into central Brazil and stall out, bringing days of good showers there. But with subsoil moisture lacking significantly, will this coming rain be enough to build in enough soil moisture for the safrinha corn crop?

Soil moisture in Brazil continues to be well below normal. Though the actual soil moisture is adequate for early growth, the lack of subsoil moisture in most of the safrinha corn areas will not be once the wet season rains shut down.

Soil moisture in Brazil is adequate in most areas for the current developing safrinha corn, but is well-below normal for this time of year. A drier March forecast is not favorable for good crop production, despite favorable conditions early in the season.

Rainfall in Argentina has turned away from its consistency during the last month and crops are just holding on.

Rainfall in Brazil has been consistent, but amounts have not been up to snuff and soil moisture is behind schedule for the safrinha corn crop that is now being planted.

After more than two weeks of hot and dry conditions that produced a flash drought in Argentina, heavy soaking rains moving through the region will ease the stresses for corn and soybeans, which are in a critical stage of development.