Argentine Corn Farmers Hit by Heat Wave

The effects of La Nina continue to wreak havoc in Argentina, as well as Mexico and Brazil, as corn farmers in Argentina could lose up to 33 percent of the corn for the 2011-2012 season.

Already struggling from recent drought conditions, the projections are the corn in the Pampas agricultural zone will experience drought conditions through February 2.

Expected tempertures are expected to go above the 104 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of the region, with little rain expected to dampen things down.

Rick Tolman, chief executive officer of the National Corn Growers Association, said this in Buenos Aires, “It looks very similar to what we experienced in 2011." He added that the rain “seemed to be timely enough to help the soybean yields, but for a lot of the corn, it may be too little, too late.”

The worst case scenario for Argentina could result in the harvest dropping to as low as 20 million tons, 10 million less than the 30 million projected.

For the December through March season, the estimated corn havest was cut from 7.4 million tons to 6.1 million tons. The soybean harvest estimates were slashed from 14.1 million tons to 11.7 million tons during the same period.