Brazil: Rust Threatening
26 March 2007 Due to the liquidity crisis in Brazil, farmers did not use the recommended applications of inputs, but evenly dispersed and heavy rains throughout the crucial development stages of flowering and podfill have helped this year’s crop to flourish.
Conab’s (the Brazilian government food supply company) estimates the soybean harvest at 56.7 MMT. Local ag consultants Safras and Céleres estimate Brazilian soybean production at 57.8 and 58 MMT, respectively.
The high output comes despite struggles with soybean rust disease. Embrapa Soja, Brazil’s soybean research entity, has reported 2,168 cases of soybean rust so far this season. The number of registered cases has nearly doubled since this time last year due to the considerable amount of humidity present in the fields compared to last year, as well as the increase in Embrapa’s ability to monitor the disease.
Control of rust has also been helped by laws that now prohibit monocropping of soybeans and require that farmground be left fallow for a period in order to prevent the spread of the disease. However, during periods of heavy precipitation, spraying was at times impossible and losses during these times of continual rain occurred.
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