May 21, 2010
90-Day Soybean Free Period Begins in Brazil on June 15th
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
By June 15th, farmers in many states of Brazil must make sure that they do not have any live soybean plants growing on their property because that is the start of the 90-day soybean free period in much of Brazil. Between June 15th and September 15th, live soybeans are prohibited by law unless they are part of a pre-approved scientific research experiment. This prohibition of soybeans during the dry season was instituted five years ago as an attempt to break up the reproductive cycle of soybean rust.
Any farmer that intentionally grows commercial soybeans during this period can be fined up to R$ 80,000 and have his crop destroyed. Volunteer soybeans are also prohibited during this time frame as well, but generally there are no fines levied for volunteer soybeans unless the farmer refuses to destroy the plants after he has been notified of their existence. A total of 38 agronomist and state inspectors will canvass the state starting on June 15th in search of any clandestine soybean production or volunteer soybeans that have sprouted in the field or are found growing near storage facilities or commercial grain elevators.
If the inspectors find prohibited soybean plants, the property owner will be notified and the property will be re-inspected to verify if the plants have been destroyed. During the first year or two of the program, individual farmers tried to skirt the law, but as each year goes by, farmers have become much more diligent in destroying the soybean plants because they realize it helps control the early onset of soybean rust which saves them money in the long run.
Rust spores generally die if they are without a host plant for more than 60 days. There are many other native plants in Brazil that can serve as hosts, but soybeans are the principal host and they are the easiest plant to control.
When the state of Mato Grosso started to be opened up for soybean production, farmers had planned on producing three soybean crops per year in the same field. The first crop would be planted in September and harvested in January. The second crop would be planted in January immediately after the first crop was harvested and the second crop would be harvested in May. The first two crops would be rain-fed. Then a third crop of soybeans would be grown under irrigation during the dry season. This crop would be planted in May and harvested in August.
For a few years the system worked fine until soybean rust entered Brazil during the 2000-01 growing season. When rust entered the country, the irrigated soybeans grown during the dry season acted as incubators for rust spores that then invaded the conventionally grown soybeans almost as soon as they were planted. The disease spread quickly across Brazil and became more of a problem each growing season.
The 90-day soybean free period was instituted as a way to help control the disease and it has been viewed as a success by most farmers and scientists. Without this program scientists feel it would have been much harder to get the disease under control.
Instead of growing three crops of soybeans per year, many farmers in central Brazil have turned to a second crop of corn or cotton. If the weather cooperates, this second crop can be a success. If irrigation is available, a second crop of corn can be quite successful.