February 22, 2008

 

Mato Grosso 2007-08 soy harvest seen "exceptional"

 

 

Brazil's top soy-producing state, Mato Grosso, is seeing "exceptional" yields so far in the 2007-08 crop, said Andre Debastiani, an agronomist at crop-tour organizer Agroconsult.

 

"I've been to over 200 fields and properties this week and yields are going to be really good," Debastiani said.

 

"Even early-cycle soy, which doesn't usually produce as well per hectare, is looking exceptional in the fields we've seen so far," he said.

 

Debastiani is leading a team of Agroconsult agronomists and sponsors from companies like Banco do Brasil SA and Petroleo Brasileiro SA throughout Mato Grosso for the next nine days.

 

He said farmers had no problems with Asian soy rust and won't suffer any losses from it this crop year.

 

No exact per-hectare productivity amounts were provided at this time.

 

Agroconsult estimates Brazil will harvest slightly more than 60 million tonnes of soy this season.

 

The harvest is underway and ends in March in Mato Grosso.

 

"Farmers are aggressively harvesting these days to make way for fall corn," Debastiani said from a cell phone in Campo Verde, a farm town in south Mato Grosso.

 

Brazil is the world's No. 2 soy producer and exporter behind the US.

 

Agroconsult has been doing national crop tours since 2004. It is the only firm in Brazil that visits all 11 soy-growing states for a final crop estimate.