South American crop extremes

Of all the fundamentals weighing in on the corn and soybean markets lately, the one that's gotten most of the attention is how Mother Nature's behaved in the southern hemisphere, namely the areas of Brazil and Argentina that grow most of South America's soybeans and corn.

As farmers in those countries start to look ahead to harvest, which will begin in parts of South America in the next couple weeks, they're taking stock of where the weather's left their crop potential: Argentina's faced some tough drought conditions throughout the growing season, but recent rains have helped ease that drought pressure. A lot of farmers in Brazil, though, have had good weather lately, and are looking forward to a bumper crop.

Agriculture.com Marketing Talk member Santiago is a farmer in Argentina who's been dealt a tough hand with his crops this year. His farm in the Cordoba province in the center of the nation has missed out on many of the rains that have fallen there especially in the last 2 weeks and that's got him worried about his crop prospects as harvest looms.

"If we do not get any [rain this or] next week either, I can say that our soybeans will be in trouble," Santiago said in Marketing Talk this week. Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.