February 28, 2008

Brazil's top soy state to reap record yields

Brazil's leading soy state, Mato Grosso, is projected by agronomists and producers to harvest record yields this year on favourable rains and absence of Asian rust.

Agronomist Rafael Gregolin Abe of the private technical farm assistance company, Impar, said average yields may surpass 50 to 52 bags per hectare.

The state will continuously be surveyed by agronomists until Saturday.

Andre Debastiani of Agroconsult, agreed that it will be a record this year, referring to productivity in the state compared with the analysts historical data.

Asian rust had typically claimed about 7 percent of Brazil's soy crop in recent years, according to the government plant research unit Embrapa.

Debastiani pointed that Brazil's 90-day moratorium on planting soy over the winter months has helped to keep rust from spreading from one summer crop to the next by providing a host from May to September on irrigated fields.

Some meteorologists, on the other hand, have been concerned about the recent rainy weather that has slowed harvesting in the center-west states such as Mato Grosso.

However, Debastiani assured that the rains have not been very intense and therefore did not present a great threat to Brazil's yields.