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Rain, cooler temps may help Argentine crops

Forecasts for wetter and cooler weather in the central Argentina crop belt put pressure on corn and soybean futures Monday. 

DTN ag meteorologist Bryce Anderson says the rain chances are looking pretty good. “ By the middle of the week—late Tuesday into Wednesday—the models are very consistent with offering anywhere from 1 to 1½  inch rainfall,” he says, “and maybe some isolated, locally heavier 2-inch amounts over central Argentina.”

Anderson says temperatures also show a more favorable trend, with highs pegged in the 80’s as opposed to the 95 to 100-plus degree temperatures that the region endured a week ago.  He says the rain and cooler temperatures would be especially helpful to Argentina’s corn crop, which is in its critical pollination stage.  But it doesn’t mean, Anderson says, that Argentina’s crop is out of the woods.

“This should not be looked at as the end of what could be a pretty stressful situation in Argentina,” he says. “I think it’s something that kind of helps hold the line on the crop stress situation—but it doesn’t all of a sudden take the crop from its difficulty that it’s had, and then take it the rest of the way.”

Anderson says there is no indication that the LA Nina weather pattern, which has been causing the hot and dry conditions in Argentina, is weakening. 

AUDIO: Bryce Anderson (4 min MP3)