Province experiences the worst harvest of the last 18 years – Diario Concordia Directo

The Entre Ríos Grain Exchange reported on soybean production in the 2017/18 cycle in the province and explained that although planted area of ​​soybeans in the 2017/18 cycle was experienced an interannual growth of 1 percent (11 000 ha), the crop suffered the impact of a drought that began to manifest in mid-November 2017 and resolved definitively at during the January-March 2018 quarter.

This scenario resulted in a drastic drop in the potential yield of the crop, and from the end of April until the beginning of May (in the middle of the harvest), the repeated rainfall badociated with high temperatures, caused the deterioration of the commercial quality of the seed. The combination of these factors resulted in the loss of 69,500 ha, or 6% of the total area seeded

According to the report released by the Grain Exchange, this led to the average provincial yield of the crop year. The year 2017-2018 is the lowest of the last 18 years, since it was 968 kg / ha, 66% less than last year –

However, if the yield Provincial average is calculated the total area sown – which represents the income of the producer – the value is further reduced, since it was only 913 kg per hectare.

Thus, the production experienced an inter-annual fall of 67 percent, that is, a decrease of 2,277,070 tons compared to the 2016/17 campaign

Climatic factors
The climatic factor was decisive in the performance of the 17/18 campaign, the accumulated average being only 260 mm, when the rain accumulates During the period from November to March, they are located at 680 mm

which means a severe deficit of 420 mm, 62% less than the usual value.

On this point, the report also points out that rains were concentrated in November and December. This two-month period contributed 62% (160 mm) of the total. This fact generated an extreme drought scenario from January to March when cumulative rainfall was barely 100 mm
Source: APF Digital