Sep 22, 2010
Full Season Corn Crop in Parana Only 5% Planted
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Farmers in Parana have been waiting for the first rains of the new growing season to start planting their 2010/11 corn crop. Fortunately, scattered showers did move across the far southern part of the state yesterday. Unfortunately, the northern part of the state did not receive any rain and that part of the state has been dry for over two months.
Currently, only 5% of the 2010/11 corn crop in the state of Parana has been planted. This is significantly behind last year's planting pace when 28% of the corn had been planted by this time. The planting window for full season corn in Parana is generally between mid-September and early October. Corn can be planted past mid-October, but the corn yield potential tends to taper off if the corn is planted too late.
The farmers in Parana had already indicated that they intended to reduce their full season corn acreage and increase their intended soybean acreage. A survey conducted by the state extension service indicated that the full season corn acreage in the state would decline by 15% from 900,000 hectares to 762,000 hectares. The same survey indicated that the soybean acreage in the state would be 3% larger than the 4.47 million hectares of soybeans planted in 2009/10. The Department of Agriculture in the state is now indicating that the soybean acreage might increase 5% compared to the 2010/1 growing season.
Up until yesterday, no area of the state had received more than 10 mm (0.4 inches) of rainfall during September. At least 40 mm of rain (1.6 inches) must fall before farmers are confident enough to start planting their expensive corn crop.
The dry weather is facilitating the wheat harvest in the state which is now half completed. The biggest problem for wheat production in the state is usually too much rain during the harvest season.