A principal atmospheric scientist says he’s watching weather conditions in South America as Sept. 15 approaches.
Eric Snodgrass is with Nutrien Ag Solutions.
“The forecast for Brazil is possibly a delay in the start of the monsoon. That’s typical of El Niño. But there’s something else helping it along and that is the weak trade winds that are in the Atlantic. Now, we’re worried about those trade winds for the hurricane season in the U.S., but Brazil is worried about it for kicking off the moisture return,” he says.
He tells Brownfield farmers in the area may not be able to plant starting Sept. 15.
“Which means the beans go in a little bit later and it could compress their crop calendar and start to show up with an issue,” he says.
The same forecast could lead to wet conditions in Southern Brazil and Argentina.
“If you remember last year, that was where the major drought area was: Argentina. So now we’re possibly looking at a bit of a pattern flip down there, largely driven by El Niño. We’ll watch that September 15th date when they get to start rolling and see how things shape up at that point, but it could be something where South America has a little bit of adversity to overcome as well,” he says.
Brownfield interviewed Snodgrass during a recent DEKALB/Asgrow field day in southern Indiana.
Source : Brown Field
