During the maintenance period which follow production phase, we performed some readjustment of some pipes and connections in the irrigation system in order to have the most efficient use of water possible with minimum loss in pressure or in friction. At the same time, those adjustments are also going to reduce future maintenance operations and prevent soil from erosion.

Meanwhile, we have also prepared land for the coming sowing campaign. All inputs needed are at farm as you can see, and 1,300 hectares are ready to be sowed as of September.

The harvest of our 1780 hectares sowed for this cycle is now completed so as the related drying process. Over 12, 500 tons have been produced of which half has already been sold and delivered to our clients. The remaining production is stored in our silo facility.

We are now starting with maintenance of irrigation channels so as with our artificial lake. First step here is to dry our reservoir to performance annual maintenance for next campaign.

Below you will find a general overview of operations where you can see each rice section, our silos and the river.

Over 1,300 hectares of rice have been harvested so far with an average yield of 7 tons per hectare. Harvest has been interrupted  several times this month due to rainfalls, making access to machinery difficult.

For now, 500 hectares of IRGA 424 variety remain to be harvested. Subject to good weather conditions, the harvest should be complete shortly.

On February 11, we registered in particular heavy rainfall: 150 mm of rain was recorded that day vs 240 mm for the entire month of February. Delay in harvesting leads to decline in humidity of the rice grain given high ambient temperature which ultimately causes a decline in rice quality.

Rice cultivation: We performed humidity and impurities tests on our premium rice variety (Puita). Harvest of this variety has began (Puita) as you can see on the pictures below. Puita variety have been increased and represent a bit more then 1/3 of the surface sowed during this cycle.

As for our other main variety – IRGA 424, harvest should begging in February as the plots are still under irrigation. This variety is in particular more resilient to the climate of the area but for which the export demand to Brazil is less important than for Puita.

Rice sales: we have already initiated negotiations with our clients in order to pre-close some contracts as we expected to produce over 12 000 tons of rice for our 2nd campaign.

Soybean cultivation (test campaign for diversification purposes): even if the climate register in December was overall favorable for the development of the plants, excess rainfall registered previously could not been entirely offset.

As a results, we should expect that some plots sowed with soybean will have good yields. Some other, with only few beans as you can see on the pictures below.

Rice cultivation: The average sowing period took place during the optimum date for the crops (from September 13 to October 15).

October and November were months of vegetative development of the crop. During those months, our region has register lower temperatures lower than normal. Due to this factor, we could observe that rice plants are less developed as they should be.

December is the month of definition of yield potential, subject to how temperatures and solar radiation behave.

There are no rainfall deficits or low river level observed so far, and our artificial lake has enough water reserve until beginning of January.

We estimate that harvest will start this year by January 20, 2017.

Soybean cultivation (test campaign for diversification purposes): The crop has been planted during the optimal period (end of September).

October and November were months of heavy rainfall (we record 304 mm and 185 mm accumulated water during those months). Excess water is hurting this crop development, in opposition with rice, so as lower temperatures affects development and optimum growth.

Good soil drainage is a priority for this crop, as it is surrounded by plots of irrigated rice, where the sub-surface layer is high. So we registered some flooding situation in some sectors planted with soy. Those area of crops are lost – 10 to 15 hectares of cultivated area.

In December, we need to register high temperatures and no heavy rainfalls events. It is key for a good development of the plants as they will be in their reproductive period (definition of yield).

During the current cycle and for future diversification purposes, we are testing soybean cultivation. As you can see below, the plants are developing well.

Our main production there – rice, is so far developing also well. We need now more sunny days (light) and high temperature so that the plant continue its optimal development. We have registered 300 mm of rain in October and so far 60 mm in November.

Below you can see that we started irrigation of the fields, in particular the section of the farm irrigated by gravity (first time under this method). Overall the system is worked well even if some details have to be adjusted.

Over 1,000 hectares of rice have already seeded and are in germination stage. Even if the weather is dry, young plants are developing very well as you can see. For future diversification purposes, we are also testing soybean cultivation over 220 hectares.

The artificial lake of 480 hectares we build to store water in case of an extended period of low water level of the river or dry period, is now filled with water as you can see.