Western São Paulo sees variation in productivity in the soybean harvest

The scenario for soybean crops in the 2024/25 harvest in the western region of São Paulo was not very different from what was seen in the neighboring north and northwest of Paraná: a large variation in productivity caused by dry spells and poor distribution of rainfall in the phase in which the plants needed water most, grain filling, between the end of December and the beginning of January.

Before that, soybeans had been developing normally and expectations were encouraging. As a result, most producers recorded losses in greater or lesser volumes, but there were also those who managed to harvest well. Just like in Paraná, extremes were common this year.

Well below potential

In Palmital, a municipality recognized for the quality of most of its land, the general average productivity was between 40 and 45 bags per hectare (100 and 110 bags per bushel in São Paulo). According to technicians, this is a level well below the crop's potential, which in the 2022/23 harvest, served by favorable weather, did not fall below 60 bags per hectare (145/bushel).

From a family that traditionally grows grains and invests in technologies to improve its averages, producer Fred Frand Frandsen closed the harvest with 46,7 bags per hectare (113/alqueire), while many of his colleagues had to settle for much lower numbers, between 33 and 37 bags per hectare (80 to 90 in the alqueire equivalent).  

Less and more

The situation was even worse in the vicinity of the Paranapanema River, where some producers did not even harvest. At the same time, there were those who were lucky enough to have benefited from rain at the right time and harvested 66 bags/hectare (an expressive 160 bags per alqueire).  

“The crops on my property were looking good, but when it was time to use the machinery, the effects of the dry spell appeared,” says Frandsen. Interestingly, in the previous soybean harvest (2023/24), which faced severe drought for almost the entire cycle, its average reached 53,7 bags per hectare (130/alqueire).

Corn worries

 Expectations now turn to the winter corn harvest, which is also facing problems. “There was a delay in planting; in some places it took 30 days for the rain to start again,” says Natan Rafael Borges, manager of the Cocamar unit in Palmital. “In general, we can say that the development of the corn is poor,” he summarizes. The cooperative has 428 members in the municipality.

Nearby, in Cruzália, where Cocamar also has an operational unit, manager Fábio Gavino Mendes describes a similar scenario for both soybeans and corn. In relation to the oilseed, productivity varied between 16,5 and 67 bags per hectare (40 and 163 bags/alqueire). “The differences were very large even over a short distance, of four to five kilometers,” he observes. For this reason, the general average in the municipality did not exceed 40 bags per hectare (100/alqueire).

As for corn, producers are concerned, according to the manager. In Florínea, a nearby municipality, for example, few have managed to plant the second crop. “There has been very little rain there,” he concludes.