Jul 26, 2024
No End in Sight for Dry Weather in Central Brazil
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
The Brazilian National Weather Service (Inmet) issued an alert this week for continued dry conditions and low relative humidity for central Brazil. The last rain in central Brazil occurred the third week of April and the relative humidity this week is forecasted to drop to 12% to 20%. Relative humidities that low can have adverse health impacts and increase the risk of forest fires.
The alert stretches from northern Parana northward including the states of Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Goias, and Rondonia. The eastern Amazon Region is also under alert for relative humidity in the range of 20% to 30%.
Inmet does not have any rain in the forecast for central Brazil through the month of July with above normal temperatures.
Dry weather is common in central Bazil during the annual dry season from May through August, but this dry season has been dryer-than-normal and hotter-than-normal.
Farmers in Mato Grosso are allowed to start planting their 2024/25 soybeans on September 1st, which is 15 days earlier than in previous years. If rains do not develop during the month of August, then only farmers with irrigation capabilities will plant their soybeans on September 1st. Farmers without irrigation will wait until they receive approximately two inches of rainfall before they start planting soybeans.
Farmers in central Brazil must be careful when they start planting soybeans because there may be a span of 2-3 weeks between the first rain and any subsequent rainfall. If they plant too quickly, the soybeans may germinate and then die due to a lack of moisture. Farmers would then have to replant their soybeans driving their production cost even higher.