Wet Weather Slows the Start of Soybean Harvesting in Parana

Persistent wet weather in southern Brazil is slowing the initial soybean harvest in the state of Parana, which is Brazil’s second largest soybean producing state after Mato Grosso. Even though the early maturing soybeans are ready for harvest, the wet weather has kept farmers out of the fields. The Department of Rural Economics (Deral) reported earlier this week that 1% of the soybeans in Parana were in vegetative development, 16% were flowering, 67% were filling pods, and 15% were maturing.

The soybean harvest in Parana is less than 1% complete. At the end of January 2020, the state had harvested 2% of the soybeans and on February 4th 2019, the state had harvested 25% of their soybeans.

According to the President of the Soybean & Corn Producers Association of Parana (Aprosoja/PR), this is the slowest start to the soybean harvest in ten years and the soybeans planted about September 25th, which are now awaiting harvest, are the most impacted. Ironically, those early planted soybeans suffered by dry weather during the early growing season and now at harvest, the crop is being impacted by excessive moisture. The longer the soybeans remain unharvested, the greater the chance of poor quality seed.

Soybeans that were planted after October 25th are currently filling pods, but the excessive wetness has led to concerns about increase disease pressure. Farmers have not been able to get into the fields to apply control measures for diseases such as soybean rust and white mold. For the last several weeks, it has been very wet with heavy overcast and a lack of sunshine, which can result in increased amounts of disease.

The initial soybean harvest all across Brazil has been slowed by wet weather, which is going to result in a slow start for Brazil’s soybean exports. As of late last week, Brazil’s soybeans were 1.9% harvest compared to 8.9% a year earlier according to AgRural. Brazil should start to export soybeans during the second half of February, but the exports won’t really pick up until March, which is approximately a month later than last year.

Soybean & Corn Advisor

Tags: harvest, weather, soybeans