Brazil’s Soybean Planting Nears End, Asian Rust on Early Growth

As Brazil’s farmers near completion of this year’s soybean planting season, they are selling more crop ahead of averages.

Planting Progress

As of Sunday, Brazil’s soybean planting progress hit 96% complete, 3% ahead of a week ago and behind the 98% five-year average, according to AgRural, a Curitiba, Brazil-based consultancy.

Recently, a dry weather period in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state, hurt average and large producers’ soybean potential.

On the other hand, rainfall last week and yesterday allowed the crops to recover and to emerge. About 1.18 inches dropped a week ago and the same volume on Monday in northeast and northwestern regions of the state, where nearly 98% of the crop is already planted. During this time of the year, the average daytime-high temperatures reach 86ºF. Lately, there have been even warmer days.

“This dry weather was critical for soybeans, but now it has improved a lot. It is still critical for corn,” says Carlos Delavalle Filho, an agronomist in the Northeast of Rio Grande do Sul.

For Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, there is a forecast of adequate rainfall for the emerging period of soybeans. New rain events are expected to fall in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Parana, and Tocantins, according to Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology.

AgRural is now forecasting a total soybean output of 22.2 million metric tons in Brazil.

Asian Rust alert

The Rural Institute of Technical Assistance of Parana already identified two spores of Asian Rust in that southern state, which is now the third-largest soybean producing state.

Edivan José Possamari, an agronomist from the Grain Project at the Rural Institute of Technical Assistance of Parana, recommends that once the disease is detected over a plant, “Then the crop protection product should be applied.”

Paulo Bertolini, a farmer in the east-central part of Parana, is happy about the weather, but he’s paid “double attention to Rust.”

Currently, the most attention on soybean rust is seen in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where the corn crop is more important than soybeans.

Crop Sales Rise

In the state of Mato Grosso, the sales reached 41.33% of the estimated harvest in 2019-20. That is 9.9% higher than the same period of last season. Regarding the 2018-19 season, the soybean volume in the state is 98.7% sold.