ARGENTINA – Torrential rain triggers floods at San Bartolo farm (February 2020).
We were expecting some rains to boost pastures as the current period of the year use to be very hot and dry in Salta region, but torrential rain hits Salta and Tucumán provinces in northwest Argentina. The storm and heavy rain from 8 to 9 February 2020 caused flooding and several damages, forcing also local authorities to evacuate people as you can read (“Article from Infobae, dated 11/02/20”). You can see the situation of El Dorado River which is surrounding our farm. This bridge is located 12 km upstream from the main entrance of the farm.
Over 150 mm of rain fell in 24 hours at San Bartolo causing several material damages (fences, broker trees, equipments, etc) but also affecting our cattle operation.
The corral, which has been refreshed, was affected and we had to evacuate the houses of the personal as they were under water. We never faced such a heavy rain there. The good news is that none of the personal has been hurt.
The gauchos are trying to regroup the cattle of flooded sections to transfer them to dry areas in order to prevent sanitary issues (hoof disease, tick, etc) and cattle losses (shrinking, weight loss, injury, etc). Mothers and young calves are the most sensitive categories, and need food supplementations given their morphology.
This situation will clearly affect births and natural service (peak period until mid-February) as well as the meat production (target of 350 tonnes) as the available grassing area have been reduced. Fortunately, we decided to sell some selected cattle in advance to reduce the herd and take advantage of some market opportunities.
The water has now to evacuate but we already know that it will be slow as the problem is emphasised by the illegal internal protection walls build by some farmers upper the river which affected and changed water course (a legal action is ongoing and cleaning plans have already been approved by local authorities).
The situation is complex but the team is focused to secure the herd (around 3,000 heads) with food in dry areas and to emphasis sanitary controls. The growing number of unusual and unpredictable weather events makes farming a riskier business these days.
PARAGUAY – Harvest has begun at Salitre Cue farm (January 2020).
Situation/weather: After having faced some restrictions periods of water pumping (either whole or partial) due to extreme low water level in the river, the situation reveres with some dense rainfalls registered. The torrential rains which caused flooding and landslides in southeast Brazil raised also upstream water levels.
We could recover the full optimal water capacity to irrigate the remaining plots under irrigation if any natural shortage of water may arise. Fields took also benefit from direct natural irrigation.
At the entrance of the river where the pump station is located, we register now above 3.7 m of water level.
You could access there by walk 2 weeks ago so low level had reached the river as you can see below.
Production: We began to harvest our 1st block (Block G – 281 has). Preliminary harvest results given by this area are very encouraging as yields are above 8 t/has with an index quality above 57.
We are working to improve, block by block, yields and quality. It takes time and precision in management of the plots (land preparation work, fertilization, cleaning and irrigation).
We have currently 9 harvesters operating, and our dryers are fully functioning.
We are going to harvest next block G you can see, on the opposite of block E which just has been harvested and the silo facilities.
Market: Rice producers in Itapúa region have a quite pessimistic vision for the 2019-20 harvest, due to flat market prices (around $180/t) the stagnation in the price of the product and the tariff restrictions that Brazil intends to impose on over Paraguayan rice export (a customs duty of 3% while other crops would be taxed at 9%). In addition, Brazil currency is also at a low level against the US dollar which leads to very low opening prices expectations.
Paraguayan producers are also worried about the change in administration in Argentina (exports are barged down the Parana Rive to ports in Argentina). The prior administration of Mrs. Kirchner leveed a tax on crops when they transited through Argentina and farmers are concerned that the tax will be reinstated once again under the new administration. Export taxes have already increased by them yet.
Without taking into consideration the cost of those protectionist measures, dried yields need to be at least above 7.1 t / h to cover direct production costs of rice given the current market conditions. According to our data, there are approximately 18,000 has of rice fields in Itapúa region, in the Tebicuary river basins and Tacuary and Aguapey streams. With time, only a few large producers will remain if the situation continues.
PARAGUAY – Update on Salitre Cue farm activities (January 2020)
Situation/weather: We continue to experiment the same weather conditions than the last months (hot and dry with very few small rains). Due to low irregular rains, we had to face additional restrictions periods of water pumping (either whole or partial) from the river imposed by the authorities. Currently, the river is at an extreme low level as you can see.
However, thanks to our artificial lake of 480 ha we could mitigate the problem and continue to irrigate the latest fields sowed which are in the final irrigation stage. Some rice producers downstream had already to abandon part of their production due to dryness and lack of water to irrigate their fields. It’s going to be another challenging campaign for Paraguayan rice producers.
Some storms are forecasted for the 2nd and 3rd week of January where the related rains will help fields’ irrigation, but the forecasted rainfall will unfortunately not be enough for the river to recover. The latest 300 has sowed might be affected if the situation continues as the remaining water stored in the reservoir is not enough to cover all the needs (final irrigation stage for most of the surface sowed in stage 1 to 3 and the latest surfaced sowed).
Production: We are making some humidity tests to see if we can start with the harvest of the initial 1,250 has sowed. We have currently a humidity index of 27/28 for the plants and with 26, we will start the harvest. 8 harvesters are ready to start the process as soon as we reach the targeted level of humidity (2 harvesters are going to be added in the peak period). We will also need 3-4 days when harvesting will begin to stabilize the machines (speed rotation). Silos and dryers wait for the production (full maintenance has been performed).
ARGENTINA – Update on San Bartolo farm activites (January 2020).
Situation/weather: Local authorities have now finalized a cleaning plan of the river El Dorado and its infrastructure. A legal action is being taken also against the farmers upper the river who built illegally internal protection walls which affected and changed the water course. Adjustments will begin after the rainy season in 3 months.
For now, some rains are forecasted during the 2nd and 3rd weeks of January and they will help to boost pastures. This is going to help some mothers to continue to keep their calves and differ a bit the early weaning process.
Cattle operation (3,160 heads): We are in the peak period for natural service of the cows (up to mid-February). The cows are in good shape and no ticks; until March, we are in the peak season for many pests and we emphasis sanitary controls during this period as we have 1,500 cows in service (mothers and young calves are the most sensitive categories are they are more fragile and vulnerable).
Heifers 1-2 years old
Cows in service with their baby calves
We are also going to take advantage of the recent increase in grain taxation to rebuilding our corn stocks for silage as prices are attractive for us. Corn and wheat for example are now more than double taxed and profit margins are going to be squeezed. That could force farmers out of crop rotation strategies that proliferated in recent years to plant cheaper soybeans instead.
Argentina’s new government has hiked export levies on soybeans, wheat and corn. Rates for soybeans, soyoil and soymeal are 30% from about 25% and corn and wheat to 12% from around 7%. Beef export taxes were raised to 9% from 7%
The nightmare comes true for Argentina’s farmers.
ARGENTINA & PARAGUAY – Happy New Year 2020 (January 2020).
All Campos team is wishing you a happy New Year 2020 !
