February 10, 2012

Drought may hit Spain's grain, oilseed crops

Spain's grain and oilseed crops may suffer from possible drought if low levels of rainfall continue in February, reported the USDA.

Months of poor precipitation has caused dry soil conditions and delays in winter plantings, the USDA said, while the lack of rains has also resulted in low water levels in soil and reservoirs.

Should such dry conditions prevail, there might be poor spring planting conditions and a change in crop patterns, the USDA said. Soil moisture content could be too low for the proper establishment of plantings, and farmers might switch from corn to less water demanding crops such as wheat in the northern part of the country, or sunflower in the south.

Rainfall throughout the autumn was around 30% below the historical average, the USDA said, with enough to facilitate plantings at the end of October, but insufficient levels to replenish soil reservoirs. Additional precipitation occurred in the second half of January, but again the amount of rainfall was too light to improve soil dry conditions.

Surface and subsurface soil moisture is fairly low in the main Spanish grain production areas, the USDA said, with the amount of precipitation in February and throughout spring likely to be critical in determining final yields.

A lack of rain might also affect pasture availability and livestock farmers would need to supplement their animals with feed, which the USDA said would result in additional feed grains import requirements.

The lack of snow in the mountain tops is also a problem, the USDA said, since it is an important source for replenishing water reservoirs in spring and summer.