Weather forecasts for this week are not encouraging for crops in the south of the country, where a cold front is generating rain and should give way to frost between Friday and Saturday, with a risk mainly to areas of wheat growing in development in Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul.
According to weather forecasts released on Tuesday and analysts interviewed by Reuters, regions of Paraná's second crop corn can also be hit by intense cold, but as the harvest is advanced, the chances of damage are lower.
Data from Climatempo and Rural Clima indicate intense cold for the three southern states.
“The frosts should be strong at dawn on Friday (19) and Saturday (20), between the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Sul and the southern half of Paraná… stated Climatempo in a bulletin.
The Brazil is on track to harvest a record crop of over 9 million tons this year, with favorable weather so far and an increase in planted area.
Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul produce around 90% of the country's cereal.
“Yes, there are forecasts of widespread frosts in much of the southern region of Brazil… which makes us very concerned about wheat and corn,” said Rural Clima agrometeorologist Marco Antônio Santos.
Rural Economy Department analyst Carlos Hugo Godinho told Reuters that nearly 60% of Paraná's wheat is susceptible to losses if it is hit by extreme cold.
However, the location where the phenomenon should occur reduces this percentage.
“The frosts should be concentrated in the southern half of the state, where this percentage of susceptible crops drops to around 10% of the area,” he said, referring to the region that normally plants later.
In the case of corn, frosts no longer have the potential to harm the second crop in Paraná.
“On the contrary, they can accelerate the maturation process of crops”, added Deral specialist Edmar Gervásio.
He pointed out that the cereal harvest is already well advanced, in 79% of the state's area, after advancing 10 percentage points in a week.
For Gervásio, what can hinder fieldwork is the persistence of rains that are already occurring in Paraná.
“Naturally, if it rains where there is corn to harvest, the field workers stop”, he pointed out.
The consulting analyst AgRural Daniele Siqueira also commented that the forecast of very cold weather expected for the next few days contributed to paralyzing a planting of corn first crop 2022/23 that had been anticipated in the west of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.
“Actually, they anticipated planting due to good soil moisture and are now waiting for better conditions to proceed,” she said.
The analyst mentions that these regions usually start sowing in August, but not so early in the month as happened this year.
Although with less intensity, Climatempo predicts that the frosts have a chance to spread to other south-central states and reach other crops, such as Mato Grosso do Sul and south of São Paulo.
In the São Paulo region, some impact could come in sugarcane areas, while in Mato Grosso do Sul, the alert was indicated for second crop cane and corn.
Rural Clima disagrees and believes that the extreme cold should not affect sugarcane, coffee and citrus growing areas in the Southeast of the country.
Sources: investing.com
