Oct 13, 2010
Rains in Mato Grosso Have Been Less Than 100% Coverage
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Certainly some good rains have fallen across Mato Grosso over the last week, but unfortunately the rainfall coverage has not been 100%. In the areas where the rainfall has been less than adequate, farmers will wait until they receive at least 50 to 60 mm of rainfall (two inches or more) before they will commit to full scale soybean planting. They are concerned that if they plant to quickly without sufficient soil moisture to insure germination and seedling establishment, the soybeans may germinate but then not have enough moisture for the seedlings to survive another dry period.
A developing strong La Nina has many farmers in the state concerned that the early growing season weather may be less than ideal. Scientists are also concerned and they have already started to advise the farmers as to ways to avoid some of the potential risks of dryer than normal weather. The first advice they are giving farmers is to spread out their risks by planting soybeans of different maturities. They recommend that farmers plant early, semi-early and medium maturity soybeans so that the soybeans are not all at the same developmental stage at the same time. They also recommend avoiding planting all the soybeans in a short period of time. Instead, they are advising that planting should be spread out over an eight to ten day period in order spread out the risk from dry periods of weather.
Forecasters in Brazil are calling for increased chances of rainfall in Mato Grosso and other areas of central Brazil during the second half of October. A delayed start to soybean planting in Mato Grosso doesn't necessarily imply lower soybean yields, but a delayed start has definite implications for the safrinha corn crop and cotton crop. If either the corn or cotton safrinha crops are planted later than normal, there can be a definite negative impact on yield. The safrinha corn should not be planted past early March at the latest and the safrinha cotton should be planted is February 20th.