Hot and Dry in Brazil

By Eduardo Paim

I was hoping to make sure that our climate here in Brazil is really hurting the crops so I can send you news. In southern Brazil, in the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande we have a lot of soy that is dying from excess heat, even if there is still a little humidity on the ground the heat is so strong that the plants are drying the leaves and dying! This is already happening in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso (two states with similar names). Certainly the first-crop maize crops are damaged! Because of this heat wave we will have a harvest more in the south of Brazil, the heat caused the soybean plants to dry and the producers who want to harvest, some will not harvest! I can not tell you the size of the problem yet, but it certainly does! We are expecting rain for next week! Jesus bless you and Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Moisture in Brazil

By Eduardo Paim:

Here we are having  great weather for soy planted, lots of rain. We are having the highest amounts of rainfall in the last 40 years in Brazil. I hope the sun does not fail us too! As soybean planting was anticipated due to earlier rains, our second-crop maize area will be higher if everything else continues well. Growers in general are buying more maize seeds and manure to increase corn area!

We are expecting an agreement between Trump (USA) and Xi (China). I believe it will be good for everyone!

Planting Progress in Brazil

By Eduardo Paim

We are well advanced in planting soybeans in relation to previous years, here in Mato Grosso it is normal for the rains to end in May and only to return in October; This year God blessed us, we just had no rains in July and August. Soil moisture is considerably good, we in particular started planting summer pastures in early September (last year we started in December because of low soil moisture). Work with soy and corn planting is advanced in Mato Grosso, especially in the south of the state! Southern Brazil, in the states of Paraná, Rio Grande and Santa Catarina are having difficulties to develop planting due to excessive rains! This year's corn coheita was very good in Brazil in general! There is a lot of corn that the multi's have bought and not exported, now there is the possibility that this corn will be re-sold in the domestic market, if that happens we may have strong pressure on domestic prices down. Here we made the option to sell 80% of the corn and 100% of the soy using the high dollar due to the elections for president!

As it is happening many rains in the South of Brazil I believe that we can even have a year with EL-NIÑO!

USDA Trade Retaliation Program

This Announcement came direct from USDA USDA Announces Details of Assistance for Farmers Impacted by Unjustified Retaliation USDA is taking action to assist farmers in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation by foreign nations.  As announced last month, USDA will authorize up to $12 billion in programs, consistent with our World Trade Organization obligations. These programs will assist agricultural producers to meet the costs of disrupted markets: USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) will administer the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) to provide payments to corn, cotton, dairy, hog, sorghum, soybean, and wheat producers starting Sept. 4, 2018.  An announcement about further payments will be made in the coming months, if warranted. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will administer a Food Purchase and Distribution Program to purchase up to $1.2 billion in commodities unfairly targeted by unjustified retaliation. USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will distribute these commodities through nutrition assistance programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and child nutrition programs. Through the Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP), $200 million will be made available to develop foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products. The program will help U.S. agricultural exporters identify and access new markets and help mitigate the adverse effects of other countries’ restrictions. The Market Facilitation Program is established under the statutory authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and administered by FSA.  For each commodity covered, the payment rate will be dependent upon the severity of the trade disruption and the period of adjustment to new trade patterns, based on each producer’s actual production. Interested producers can apply after harvest is 100 percent complete and they can report their total 2018 production.  Beginning Sept. 4 of this year, Market Facilitation Program applications will be available online at www.farmers.gov/mfp. Producers will also be able to submit their applications in person, by email, fax or by mail. For detailed information, including initial payment rates and to view U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue’s video message on the Market Facilitation Program read the full USDA press release.   Questions? Please contact your local County FSA Office.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).

Corn Harvest in Brazil

By Eduardo Paim

Here in Mato Grosso we are finishing the harvest of second harvest corn this year. There were in some regions lack of rainfall at the end of the grain filling. Even with the lack of rainfall we will have a large production of corn, I believe that we will have on average 110 (bags of 60kg) bags per hectare.

We are already preparing the 2019 soybean crop, the weather is cooler than normal for this time of year. I believe that this fresh climate helped in the production of corn that did not suffer much from rainfall, maintaining soil moisture.

Headed For Drought?

Showers have been hit and miss for the last month, but some places are a bit short.  Below shows rainfall for the last 30 days.  Areas in green have had less than 2 inches.  Areas in yellow less than 4 inches.  Short term, we have rain in the forecast for Saturday.  A good rain would certainly help the corn crop toward tasseling and pollination.  Some forecasters are saying that long term weather is expected to be dry.  As in many years, we are two timely rains from a bumper crop. 

Soybean Harvest in Brazil

By Eduardo Paim

I was waiting to approach the end of the soybean harvest to send you information. Here in Brazil in the main states harvest is ending and for sure Brazil will produce a lot of soybeans, it rained perfect and the rain forecasts that could disrupt the crops will not happen. Argentina seems to have productivity problems. Let's wait. On average Brazil will plant 35% of the second corn crop outside the ideal time. Last year, that's how it happened and we produce a lot of corn in 2017, so if Jesus sends rains we will not have any problems. The rains here are very good and the climate expected to be cooler this year, which should favor planted corn.

Today the government of Brazil has informed that it will sell corn from private stocks in Brazil to lower prices in the domestic market, this should pressure future prices here as well.

Hugs and have a nice weekend.

Using Dicamba this Growing Season

Last year we gained more experience than we wanted to have on evaluating dicamba damage in soybeans that were not traited for dicamba.  While I do not think that the new label requirements adequately address the volatilization issue, I think they will halp to deal with some of the issues people had with their dicamba applications. 

Dr. Aaron Hagar issued a new bulletin today on dicamba use that is worth a read, especially if yo uare using dicamba. 

Tunnels in Vietnam

Many of us know that the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong hid in tunnels during the War for safety.  The Tunnels were extensive and were used to store supplies and even get around.  My friend, Dr. Ken Olson explored the tunnels last year.  His knowledge of soils undoubtedly gives new insight.  Check out his news release.  Here is the the full article. 

Levee Break is a Big Problem.

Len Small Levee District is at the southern tip of Illinois along the Mississippi River.  I am sure the Corps of Engineers has a reason for not fixing it, but it is surprising that Congress has not overridden them with an appropriation.  If the levee is allowed to continue to be open, there is a good chance that the Mississippi River will cut a new channel taking out roads, highways, and farm land.  It will be like trying to put the genie back in the bottle if it decides on a new route.  This is an outrageous decision on the part of the Corps of Engineers.

This spring's flood is creating problems for many because of the open break.  One farmer is selling out to get away while he can.  Read more here .  I wrote on the same subject in 2016 and included a picture of our group standing on the sand washed out of the break. 

Rainfall and Drought

There has been a lot of concern about drought in Illinois this winter.  Last week, spring showers started early.  I did a soil boring on Friday and subsoil moisture was good to three feet.  We have had a least another inch since then and more is on the way.  For now, it looks like the drought threat is averted.  As always, we will need rain during the growing season to have good yields. 

NOAA Rain - last 7 days.  

Good Soybean Crop in Mato Grosso

By Eduardo Paim:

Here in Mato Grosso the soybean harvest is going well, the weather forecast said that in February we would have many rains and that would damage the harvest and the quality of the soybean. So far we have not had excessive rains and few producers in the north have lost with the rains that persisted for some days. I believe that Brazil will have a good soybean crop, without reducing its productivity.

Second-crop maize is beginning to be planted and rainfall forecasts indicate that it will be a good crop.

Brazil's soybean productivity is expected to ease Argentina's fall, so South America is going to be average productivity!

Brazillian Soybean Harvest

January 26, 2018
By Eduardo Paim:

Here in Mato Grosso we started the soybean harvest, as we are in a year of La Niña in the north of the state we are seeing farm with averages below 50 sacks of soy by HA and in other farms with averages above 70 sacks per HA. The soy that is being harvested is very beautiful! On average there is a good production, and if nothing else disturb I believe that logos averages will rise, we had good rains in the crops between December 2018 and January 2018. There is forecast of much rain in the North for the beginning of February and this worries a little, if we escape these rains we will have a good harvest of grains. In Argentina and South of Brazil we are seeing the weather spoil the crops more, we still have to see what happens there. If the rest of Brazil produce well, that is what we expect we will have a small break in the average of South America.

There were talks of decrease of maize area second crop because the rains were slow to arrive and delayed the planting of soybeans of the first crop. With whom I say they are going to keep the same corn planted area from the year 2017 for the second harvest, if everything goes well with rains we will have lots of corn!

GMO Labeling

As I was walking through the store this week the label on the "Simply Orange' brand of juice caught my eye.  It was labeled Non-GMO.  This is certainly not a lie, but very misleading labeling because there is no such thing as GMO oranges.  They are trying to get people to buy their product or pay extra for it because of a misleading statement.  I saw their TV ad  a few days later and they were touting their honesty.  I do not consider this an honest way to sell a product. 

Further thought has lead me to consider that we may be better off if this type of labeling was regulated.  In the past, I have said that consumers should educate themselves and buy accordingly.  I think it might be better to have consistent standards rather than let companies mislead their potential customers. 

Crop Progress in Brazil

By Eduardo Paim

Here was a big concern for La Nina, but we are having good rains in Brazil in general, I believe we are calmer with the weather than we were 30 days ago. In Argentina, there are predictions of hot flashes starting on January 11.

Here in Brazil, at least for the time being, we have a very good climate for the development of soybeans, but for the second harvest corn there should be a reduction of planted area due to the delay in soybean planting.