Brazil’s farmers start planting first 2024/25 corn crop, AgRural says

Brazilian farmers have started sowing their 2024/25 first corn crop, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, estimating work in the fields to have reached 4.2% of the projected area in the key center-south region by late last week.

Brazil plants corn all year round and the first crop usually represents about 20% of national output, while the second crop – which is planted later, after soybeans are harvested on the same fields – accounts for some 75%.

AgRural said in a statement that planting efforts so far this season have been slower than a year earlier, when 7.5% of the area had been sown, as farmers are taking a more cautious stance following frosts in mid-August.

Work is still concentrated in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, the consultancy said.

Planting should gain pace in the other southern states – Parana and Santa Catarina – next month, while in other areas of the country, farmers will only start sowing their first corn in late September or early October.

AgRural expects the area planted with corn for Brazil’s first crop to be 3.5% lower in 2024/25 than in the previous season due to reduced prices and fears the La Nina climate phenomenon might lead to yield losses.

Tags: planting, Brazil, output, first corn crop, sowing, second crop, area