AgroPages-Flooding in Argentina once again impacting agriculture-Agricultural news

Farmers in Argentina are once again struggling with localized flooding. Recent heavy rains have impacted the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Cordoba, and Santa Fe. For the provinces of Buenos Aires and La Pampa, this is the fourth episode of localized flooding since last December.

The president of the Rural Confederation of Buenos Aires and La Pampa (Carbab) estimates that in the two provinces combined, there are 22 million hectares that have been impacted and that 60% of the cattle in the province of Buenos Aires have also been impacted.

Regions of both Buenos Aires and La Pampa have declared a state of emergency and/or disaster areas concerning agricultural and livestock production. Many farmers in the region never fully recovered from previous flooding that impacted their 2016/17 soybean and corn production. Farmers are still trying to finish harvesting their 2016/17 corn crop. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange reports that the corn crop is 89.4% harvested with some of the slowest harvest progress being reported in southern and northern Buenos Aires and La Pampa where the corn is 75% to 80% harvested. The main winter crops currently growing in the region are wheat and barley and they too have been impacted.

Going forward, there are already concerns about the early planting of the 2017/18 crops. The 2017/18 sunflower crop in Argentina is 18.5% planted with almost all the planting progress occurring in the northern provinces of the country.

Generally, the first phase of corn planting in the saturated region of Argentina starts sometime in September and ends by later in October. The second phase of corn planting then starts in December and end in January. Farmers in Argentina generally do not plant much corn during the month of November because pollination would then occur during January, which can be the hottest and driest month.

Farmers in Argentina will start planting their 2017/18 full-season soybean crop in October and November. The double crop soybeans, which are planted after the wheat or barley is harvested, are generally planted in December and January.