Rains Spark Argentine Soy Planting, Too Late for Wheat Hit Hardest by Drought

(Agriculture.com) – Soy planting can start in the days ahead after rains pelted Argentina’s farm belt, but the moisture arrived too late for wheat yields to recover from damage caused by dry weather in some parts of the country, farmers said on Wednesday.

“We have had some rain now, so we are starting to plant soybeans. But it did not come in time to help with wheat yields,” said Pedro Vigneau, who operates a farm outside the town of Bolivar in the heart of the bread-basket province of Buenos Aires.

Wheat yields nationwide had been expected at 3.2 tonnes per hectare. But the drought knocked that down to 2.8 tonnes per hectare, said Gustavo Lopez, head of the Agritrend consultancy.

“Some of the damage to wheat is irreversible,” Lopez said.

From an original estimate of 21 million tonnes of wheat in the 2019/20 crop, Lopez said he now expects a harvest of 19 million to 19.5 million tonnes. “The weather has been uneven. But in north and west Buenos Aires, south Santa Fe and east Cordoba provinces, it has rained and there should be no problems,” he said.

Most of Argentina’s central farm belt has gotten showers over recent days, said David Hughes, a farmer in the Buenos Aires town of Alberti.

“We’ve had 30 to 40 millimeters in those area, which is enough to start planting soy,” Hughes said.

“Wheat was hardest hit by dryness in southern Buenos Aires province. The damage in other areas should be limited to 5%,” Hughes added.