Jan 03, 2025
Soybean Planting Window Closes in Mato Grosso January 7, 2025
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Even though some farmers in Mato Grosso have already started to harvest their early planted soybeans, they are allowed to keep planting soybeans until Tuesday, January 7, 2025. The soybean planting window opened on September 7, 2024, or 123 days ago. Farmers are not allowed to plant soybeans past this date or to plant a second crop of soybeans in the same field during the same growing season for fear of soybean rust disease (Phakopsora pachyrhizi).
If a second crop of soybeans were planted in the same field, farmers would need to apply more fungicide applications for a longer period to control the disease which could lead to the disease developing resistance to the chemical treatments.
Seed producers will be the last to plant soybeans in the state so that the soybeans can be harvested at the end of the summer rainy season when seed quality is generally higher. They had unsuccessfully petitioned the state of Mato Grosso to extend the soybean planting window even further.
Scientists have indicated that the best way to reduce losses from soybean rust is to eliminate any live soybean plants between growing seasons, plant varieties that have the most tolerance to the disease, plant as early as possible, and plant short cycle soybeans. That strategy has work quite well and Brazilian farmers have managed to adequately control soybean rust.
The Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics (Imea) estimates that farmers in the state increased their 2024/25 soybean acreage by 1.47% to 12.66 million hectares (31.2 million acres). They are estimating a statewide soybean yield of 57.97 sacks per hectare (51.8 bu/ac) and production of 44.04 million tons, which is up 12.7% compared to last year. Farmers in the state have forward contracted 41% of their anticipated 2024/25 soybean production, which is 3.8% more than last year.