Latest news with #MaximilianHeath
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Argentina's soy farmers race ahead with harvest to beat the rains
By Maximilian Heath SAN ANDRES DE GILES, Argentina (Reuters) -On Cristian Giacobone's farm in the heart of Argentina's Pampas plains, workers in the soy fields have been up since dawn, racing to harvest the rain-delayed crop before the arrival of new storms that will make threshing more difficult. The soy crop, the main export of the South American country's embattled economy, has been delayed by unusually strong rains, weighing on sales of the oilseed that are running at the slowest pace in some 11 years. Now, with a window of dry weather - but with more rains forecast - farmers are speeding up their operations. "We have a very small harvest window," Giacobone said from his 60-hectare (148-acre) soy field in San Andrés de Giles, about 100 km (62 miles) west of Buenos Aires. "The weather conditions from February until now have seen persistent rains," he added, citing an accumulated rainfall of almost 580 mm (22.83 inches). "This was the main reason for delays, due to soil conditions both in and out of the fields." Argentina is the world's top exporter of soy oil and meal, with soybean production this season estimated at 50 million metric tons by the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange. The indebted country needs soy dollars to replenish depleted foreign currency reserves. But the delays have raised fears the harvest could end up lower due to the impact of fungi or the opening of soy pods in the plant, turning every dry hour into gold for farmers, who are even harvesting in muddy fields, at the expense of compacting the soil and making future planting difficult. "What the producer is doing is making the decision to leave early in the morning, rather than wait for the grains to dry out and extend the day's work despite higher costs," Giacobone said. Typically, farmers go out with combine harvesters later in the day when grain moisture level is lower to avoid additional drying costs. 'RAINS CONTINUE' The slow harvest has hit Argentina's soy sales in the 2024/25 season, with the slowest pace in over a decade, with only 28.7% of the oilseed sold through May 7, according to official data, well below the 10-year average of 36.1% In Giacobone's field, the combine harvesters comb the last rows of soybeans, taking advantage of sunny weather that began on Saturday, allowing the restart of farm work that had been halted last week by several days of rain. However, amid the conditions of the El Niño weather phenomenon — that causes higher than normal rainfall in Argentina — more rains are expected in the days ahead. "The rains continue," Eduardo Sierra, a climate specialist at the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange, told Reuters. "We see a front coming that could bring very strong storms," the expert noted, adding that the rainfall could extend until Sunday. Sierra added that June could also be a rainy month. In San Andres de Giles, the country roads still bear the muddy marks of the wet Southern Hemisphere autumn that has spurred producers to wrap up the harvest campaign as soon as possible. "Our current strategy is this: to ensure that the soybeans ... are protected," said Giacobone, who is also president of the area's rural society. "We're somewhat fearful of all these rains and these days where the weather won't let us work."
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Argentina's soy farmers race ahead with harvest to beat the rains
By Maximilian Heath SAN ANDRES DE GILES, Argentina (Reuters) -On Cristian Giacobone's farm in the heart of Argentina's Pampas plains, workers in the soy fields have been up since dawn, racing to harvest the rain-delayed crop before the arrival of new storms that will make threshing more difficult. The soy crop, the main export of the South American country's embattled economy, has been delayed by unusually strong rains, weighing on sales of the oilseed that are running at the slowest pace in some 11 years. Now, with a window of dry weather - but with more rains forecast - farmers are speeding up their operations. "We have a very small harvest window," Giacobone said from his 60-hectare (148-acre) soy field in San Andrés de Giles, about 100 km (62 miles) west of Buenos Aires. "The weather conditions from February until now have seen persistent rains," he added, citing an accumulated rainfall of almost 580 mm (22.83 inches). "This was the main reason for delays, due to soil conditions both in and out of the fields." Argentina is the world's top exporter of soy oil and meal, with soybean production this season estimated at 50 million metric tons by the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange. The indebted country needs soy dollars to replenish depleted foreign currency reserves. But the delays have raised fears the harvest could end up lower due to the impact of fungi or the opening of soy pods in the plant, turning every dry hour into gold for farmers, who are even harvesting in muddy fields, at the expense of compacting the soil and making future planting difficult. "What the producer is doing is making the decision to leave early in the morning, rather than wait for the grains to dry out and extend the day's work despite higher costs," Giacobone said. Typically, farmers go out with combine harvesters later in the day when grain moisture level is lower to avoid additional drying costs. 'RAINS CONTINUE' The slow harvest has hit Argentina's soy sales in the 2024/25 season, with the slowest pace in over a decade, with only 28.7% of the oilseed sold through May 7, according to official data, well below the 10-year average of 36.1% In Giacobone's field, the combine harvesters comb the last rows of soybeans, taking advantage of sunny weather that began on Saturday, allowing the restart of farm work that had been halted last week by several days of rain. However, amid the conditions of the El Niño weather phenomenon — that causes higher than normal rainfall in Argentina — more rains are expected in the days ahead. "The rains continue," Eduardo Sierra, a climate specialist at the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange, told Reuters. "We see a front coming that could bring very strong storms," the expert noted, adding that the rainfall could extend until Sunday. Sierra added that June could also be a rainy month. In San Andres de Giles, the country roads still bear the muddy marks of the wet Southern Hemisphere autumn that has spurred producers to wrap up the harvest campaign as soon as possible. "Our current strategy is this: to ensure that the soybeans ... are protected," said Giacobone, who is also president of the area's rural society. "We're somewhat fearful of all these rains and these days where the weather won't let us work." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Argentina soy, once parched, now has too much rain
By Maximilian Heath BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Drenched Argentine fields due to heavy rains in the country's farm heartland are raising fears of soybean losses and delayed sales of the 2024/25 crop, although drier weather on the horizon should bring relief to producers, industry experts said. Argentina is the world's top exporter of soybean oil and meal, but combines are having difficulty entering waterlogged fields to begin harvesting following heavy rains in March and storms last week. On Thursday, the Buenos Aires grains exchange reported that the 2024/25 soybean harvest, estimated at 48.6 million tons, is 4 percentage points behind the average harvesting pace of the last five years. "The environment is very oversaturated. Harvesting this week had a terrible level of humidity. There was fog, mist. Everything was wet," Germán Heinzenknecht, a meteorologist with the Applied Climatology Consulting Firm, told Reuters. Many fields and access roads in key agricultural areas are impassable, which, according to Cristian Russo, head of agricultural estimates at the major Rosario grains exchange, is generating concerns among farmers. "There is fear, and people are trying to access the fields by any means. There's a risk with the humidity of getting rot (fungus) and there will be a discount on quantity and quality," said Russo. He added that there was also a risk that if the plants are not harvested soon, the pods will split open. SOY SALES AT SLOWEST PACE IN 10 YEARS The difficulties in advancing the grain harvest have also caused delays in 2024/25 soybean sales in Argentina, which as of April 2 recorded the slowest sales pace in the last 10 years, with only about 20% of the estimated harvest sold. The immediate forecasts show no improvement for rural areas. On Thursday, the Rosario exchange indicated that unstable conditions with likely rain are expected for the coming days. However, Heinzenknecht said there are reasons for producers to be more optimistic from next week. "We have humidity problems, but we are not seeing a consolidation of soil problems," he said. "Starting next week, we could enter a slightly more virtuous cycle. We're going into a second half of April with a slightly drier climate, with less significant rainfall," he said.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Argentine farmers stall soy sales over murky FX outlook
By Maximilian Heath BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine farmers are selling their soy crop at the slowest pace in 10 years as producers in the South American country bet on a likely weakening of the peso currency and potential tax relief from the government of libertarian President Javier Milei. The latest government data show that farmers in Argentina, the world's largest exporter of soybean oil and meal, had sold 8.4 million tons of 2024/25 soybeans as of March 19, equivalent to between 17.3%-18.1% of the expected harvest. That marked the slowest pace since the 2014/15 season when 15.7% of the soy harvest was sold at the same time of the year. The sales are a quarter below where they were last year. "Producers are selling only what they need to cover their expenses. It's another year when they are waiting to see what happens later, especially with the exchange rate," said Pedro Jaquelin, a farmer from the grains hub town of Pergamino. Argentine traders have been placing bets on a faster devaluation of the peso currency ahead of an expected $20 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund. Peso futures have spiked since the middle of the month. Local farmers' crops are priced in dollars, but they receive the peso equivalent, meaning a weaker peso would give them more local currency, an incentive to hold onto their crops. "The uncertainty and the numbers don't add up. Producers are waiting to see a change," said Jaquelin, who is also president of the rural society of Pergamino in Buenos Aires province. The slower soybean sales are a worry for Milei, whose government needs dollars to help stabilize the local peso. Soy is the country's main source of foreign currency, mainly through exports of processed soy oil and meal. Argentina's peso is currently at 1,070 per dollar, though a June futures contract spiked to near 1,200 per dollar in recent weeks. The government has moved to play down talk of a potential devaluation. Farmers also said that they were watching tax rates on soy exports, currently at 26% and 24.5% for soybeans and their derived oil and meal respectively. Some producers hope that Milei will follow through on pledges to cut these further after a temporary reduction until June. "The idea in producers' heads is that if they already lowered them once, why wouldn't they lower them again?" said Ricardo Bergmann, vice president of soy chamber AcSoja. The farmer from Monte Buey in central Córdoba province, added there are several bills in the committee phase in Congress that aimed to reduce these taxes, in a year in which Milei will try to consolidate his power in the October midterm elections. WEATHER AND CORN The delay in soybean sales is also linked to adverse weather that hit Argentine farmers at different spells of the 2024/25 campaign, earlier during planting last year and a tough drought in January-February that made producers more cautious. Heavy rains that fell in the second half of February, however, allayed fears about the drought impact and have helped spur a strong early corn crop. Farmers said they have been focused more on corn sales, taking advantage of stronger prices. "More early corn is being harvested, and it's arriving now. Producers are choosing to sell more corn," said Rosario-based agricultural analyst Lorena D'Angelo. Meanwhile, the chamber of grain exporters and processors CIARA-CEC noted that due to the slower pace of sales, local crushers have increased trade with Paraguayan farmers, who send their goods to Rosario factories by barge on the Paraná River.
