Good rainfall earlier in the season is contributing to record soyabean yields in western Bahia state, one of the frontier areas of Brazil's soy belt, producers and suppliers said. The greater humidity, however, also requires greater application of fungicide against Asian soy rust.
The regional expectation on average is around 50 60-kg bags a hectare compared with 47 bags in the 2005/06 crop year, when dry weather complicated crop development. "The rains were better distributed and spaced out," said producer Paulo Magerl, who plants soy and corn in the region, after a meeting with the Agroconsult Soya Rally on Thursday afternoon. "For this reason, we expect record yields."