Oct 23, 2009
Corn Planting In Argentina Reaches 60%
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Argentine farmers have made good progress planting their 2009-10-corn crop with approximately 60% of the crop already planted, which is equal to last year's pace and the average. The most advanced planting pace is in the northern half of Buenos Aires province, followed by southern Santa Fe, and eastern Cordoba, which represent the heart of the main corn-producing region of Argentina. The slowest planting pace is in far northern Argentina where the rainfall has been more erratic and far southern Argentina, which is where the last corn is traditionally planted.
Good weather and generally ample rainfall have encouraged good germination and rapid stand establishment. Some of the earliest planted corn in central Buenos Aires suffered light frost damage, but the damage was isolated. Farmers in Argentina want to plant their corn as early as possible in order to insure that pollination occurs before the month of January, which is the hottest and driest month in Argentina. Currently the conditions in Argentina are a vast improvement over last year when a lack of rainfall delayed the planting of the crop and resulted in a significant amount of the crop being abandoned. Drought conditions during last December and January resulted in poor pollination and disappointing corn yields.
Acreage of the 2009-10 corn crop in Argentina is expected to hit 19.0 million hectares.