ARGENTINA – Update on Curupi Pora farm activities (March 2019)
Situation/weather: After having faced a very wet January with 290 mm (2 times more than the historical average for the month – please refer to the post made in January), the situation was normalised in February and in March. The level of Santa Lucia River which is bordering the farm went down and soils are drying.
Silage and pasture program: Pastures will improve their density and we will have adequate soil moisture to plant pastures (OAT & Ray-grass) as we could not sow silage corn in November. 208 ha of OAT and 145 ha of Ray-grass are going to be sowed last week of March on the surface originally prepared for corn.
Ray-grass and OAT have both a high protein content to feed cattle and support high loads of animals per hectare. In addition, OAT is also cleaning the soil and improving its structure.
Cattle operation: Our cattle herd (5,839 heads currently) is overall in good shape and taking advantage of pastures densification. We are also starting to sell 400 calves (young steers with 220 kg) to take advantage of increase in market prices. Young female calves are retained to increase and replace mothers’ herd.
In addition, self produced Bradford bulls will also improve internal genetic of the herd while old bulls are going to be sold.
Paraguay – Rice harvest begins at Salitre Cue farm (February 2019).
Rice harvest has begun for the 1st plots sowed in September 2018 (sowing took intentionally place in stages in order to get a sequencing production).
Among the 1,500 ha sowed, we have harvested 290 ha so far, providing a dried yield of 6.5 t/ha with a high quality index (above 60). This preliminary yield, 13% below our production target (7.5 t/ha dry), is due to the excess rainfalls registered during the first 30 days of vegetative stage of those plots. Excess water during the vegetative phase hinders tillering (emergence of stems or tillers from the strand, and each stem will give an inflorescence) and therefore the yield of the plants. However, we need to add some nuance given the high quality of grain we get after drying process as the standard is an index quality of 58 (paddy rice prices are set up at this level, and discount are applying for lower quality). This result has been achieved thanks to precision harvesting and drying.
For now, this production is stored in our silos, waiting for good market opportunities.
Meanwhile, we continue to irrigate the other fields by using water from our artificial as low rainfalls occurred and the level of the river decreased.
Harvest will restart by end of February/March as around 80% of the production remains to be harvest.
ARGENTINA – Flooding in northern Argentina expected to continue (January 2019).
After having faced an intense drought last year at the same period, we are now in the opposite situation: Northeast Argentina and the adjacent parts of Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil have been hit by extensive flooding.
Since the beginning of the year, the area has received about 5 times the long-term expected average rainfall. You can see in previous posts that we had to defer several times sowing of crops due to heavy and frequent rains. Rains have hit wheat harvesting as well as soybean, corn and rice plantations.
“Article from La Nacion, dated 09/01/19”
For us, the situation is the most pronounced in Corrientes and in Salta provinces where we have Tata Cua forest and Curupi Pora farm, and San Bartolo farm respectively.
While in some part of Corrientes province water is nearly 2 meters deep and displacing the herds of cattle, we have been more preserved so far. We register 424 mm in December vs 190 mm historical average for the month and 247 mm from 01/01 to 13/01/19. As a consequence, we could not sow corn and we will replace this sowing by pasture (ray grass & oat) in March. Stocks of silage are already at low level given the past drought and the current situation may emphasis the situation if we can not sow pasture to feed the herd. To this end, we are already taking some preventing measures for the cattle in Curupi Pora farm (over 5,900 heads) if the situation was to continue and some incidence in the production can be anticipated too.
“Article from Corrientes Tourist office, dated 09/01/19”
At San Bartolo where the climate should be currently hot and dry, we have some plots close to river flooded (excess water coming from the north) and emphasis by unusual rainfalls (from July to December, we have registered +157% compared with the historical average for the same period – only for the 2nd week of January, we register 105 mm of rains).
Given the situation, we are enhancing sanitary controls of the cattle and taking several preventing measures (over 3,000 heads there). However, we are anticipating some negative effects on meat production as well as for the pregnancy ratio.
URUGUAY – Update on La Esperanza farm activities (January 2019).
Situation/weather: The farm is currently in very good shape as you can see. We did not register the same wet month of December we faced at Santa Maria; rainfalls recorded were on average levels but winter rains were particularly dense during July and August where we registered in aggregate 529 mm of water versus 196 mm on a historical average basis. These rains have been beneficial for soils and pastures which could recover from the intense drought we faced during January through April 2018.
Crop activities: Around 690 ha have been planted with soybean (only one plot of 50 ha could not be sowed due to soil conditions) and the crop is developing just fine, even better than in Santa Maria farm. We hope that the situation will go on until blooming stage and harvest.
In addition, we have sowed 84 ha of sorghum and the crop is developing very well (4.5 t/ha yield are expected). This crop is going to be used to feed the animals to complement the dried fodder. Sorghum is a crop with many advantages: it’s a rustic crop, input-efficient and simple to cultivate.
Sorghum needs mostly nitrogen, but little phosphorus and sulphur. Regarding phytos use, only one or two applications of herbicides are needed. The crop does not require insecticide or fungicide.
Cattle operation (3,780 heads): The entire herd is in very good shape and has access to dense pasture as you can see. For this cycle, we are targeting to produce 576 tons of meat with an average herd of 3,900 heads.
Uruguay – Update on Santa Maria farm activities (January 2019).
Summer crops planting in Uruguay has been slowed by wet weather: While farmers in Brazil are confronting dry weather, it has been just the opposite in Uruguay where December was a very wet (some farmers says that it could be the wettest in 100 years). We have registered several heavy rainfalls in a very short period of time (we are facing the same situation at Salitre Cue farm in Paraguay and at Curupi Pora in Corrientes) and had to defer sowing of soybean and late corn several times.
For corn: Over 300 ha have been planted and you can see below early sowing corn on the 1st picture, followed by a late sowing picture of corn.
For soybean: Around 900 ha have been planted between soybean #1 and #2. You will see below early sowing soy on the 1st picture, followed by a late sowing picture of soybean.
So far, both crops are in good conditions and it is too early to estimate or to quantify effects of this situation but delays in development stages can be anticipated. The forecast is calling for more rainfall in Uruguay, so it is possible that not all the intended soybeans will be planted.