Until mid-January, farmers in the Latin American countries endured a lack of rain and drought has continued to worsen, especially in Argentina and in the heart of the Pampa húmeda. Fields didn’t get enough rain to ensure an optimal soil moisture (less than 1/5 of the average rainfall was registered for January) while temperatures are higher than usually. The situation is not unique for Argentina; South of Brazil and Uruguay are experiencing similar weather conditions.

Furthermore, February is the month when corn and soybeans are in their fill stages (the reverse of August in the Northern Hemisphere) and the lack of soil moisture has begun to affect critical stages of both crops. According to the latest weekly report from the Buenos Aires Cereal Exchange, approximately 13 million hectares of grains production (soybeans, corn, sunflower, etc) are damaged in Argentina. The hydrical stress is affecting mostly the soybeans.

Hot, dry weather in the world’s #3 exporter of raw soybeans and top supplier of soy meal livestock feed has pushed up prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) in recent weeks, with soybean futures hitting a seven-month peak on 02/22/18.

Article from Perfil, dated 21/02/2018

The situation is likely the same in Uruguay as you can see on the water availability map for the 10 first days of February.

For us, soybean is the most affected at La Esperanza farm (700 ha) but it is still too preliminary to quantify losses in yield or quality.