Coarse grain planting is advancing in Argentina with good moisture reserves: soybeans cover 4.7% of the projected area, sunflower 72.4% and commercial corn has surpassed half. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange warned of waterlogging if the rains continue.
Planting of the main coarse grain crops gained momentum across much of Argentina's agricultural area, favored by moisture availability that allows seeders to advance and supports the early stages of the crops. According to the latest survey by the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, soybeans already cover 4.7% of the 17 million hectares projected for the 2026/27 campaign, sunflower reached 72.4% of its expected area and corn for commercial use surpassed half of the estimated area.
For soybeans, fieldwork recorded progress of 2.4 percentage points over the past week. The advance stands 2.9 points above that recorded at the same date last cycle and exceeds the average of the last five campaigns by 2.5 points.
First-crop soybean planting shows a good pace in both core production regions and in northern La Pampa-western Buenos Aires, where surface moisture allowed work to begin and some emerged fields are already observed with good water availability. The picture is different in southern Córdoba: there, the lack of trafficability in certain fields and low soil temperatures continue to limit the entry of seeders. The region shows a delay of 8.6 percentage points versus the average of the last five campaigns and has 5.4% of the projected area planted.
One of the crops showing the greatest head start in fieldwork is sunflower. After weekly progress of 13.7 percentage points, planting reached 72.4% of the 3.1 million hectares estimated for the 2026/27 cycle, which represents an advantage of 7.2 points over the historical average.
In Santa Fe, isolated replantings were reported as a result of damage caused by pigeons. Meanwhile, in the center of the agricultural area, fields are mostly between the V2 and V6 stages.
Planting of corn for commercial grain reached 50.5% of the 8.4 million hectares projected, after advancing another 3.2 percentage points over the past week. Early plantings are practically finished in the national agricultural area, and only some fields in southern Buenos Aires remain to be incorporated.
In north-central Córdoba, where a larger share of the area was allocated to early plantings this campaign, fields planted in areas around Villa María and San Francisco show good emergence and are advancing through their vegetative stages under conditions rated between normal and excellent. In other regions, some aftereffects of the low temperatures and scarce solar radiation of recent weeks are still observed, although signs of recovery are beginning to appear. Pressure from the corn leafhopper remains under monitoring in north-central Santa Fe, where controls against the vector insect continue.
In parallel, planting of grain sorghum for the 2026/27 campaign has begun. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange estimates a national area of 750,000 hectares, the same as in the previous cycle, and reported progress of 10.5%. The greatest progress is recorded in the Northern Core, where 34% of the expected area has already been planted, and in north-central Córdoba, with 20%.
Although the projected national area shows no changes, shifts in planting intentions are observed at the regional level, mainly due to the competition exerted by corn and soybeans in producers' decisions.
Toward the south, temperatures continue below the usual values for this time of year and moisture conditions differ between regions. While some areas in the west show water limitations, pockets of saturated soils are appearing in central Buenos Aires.
The Exchange warned that, if conditions do not improve and rainfall continues, area losses due to waterlogging could be recorded. Concern is especially focused on fields going through emergence and the early development stages on saturated soils, when the crop still has little capacity to tolerate excess water.
On the winter crops side, the wheat harvest advanced only 1.8 percentage points over the past week and reaches 8.5% of the suitable area. Work remains concentrated in the north of the agricultural area, where higher temperatures accelerated the maturation of the fields, although rains and the lack of trafficability continue to delay the entry of harvesters.
In Santiago del Estero and Chaco, yields of between 12 and 35 quintals per hectare were reported, with an average close to 24 quintals. In Salta, results range between 13 and 28 quintals, with an average above 16 quintals per hectare.
In the center of the agricultural area, wheat is mostly going through the flowering and grain filling stages. Higher temperatures accelerated phenological development and, with adequate to optimal water supply, yields above the historical average are expected, though below those obtained in the previous campaign. In southern Buenos Aires and La Pampa, fields are mostly between stem elongation and heading; moisture availability is good and applications to control diseases continue, although the low solar radiation of recent weeks could become a limiting factor for yield potential.
