World Grain - November 2017 - 88

FEATURE

MONSOONAL RAINS

FINALLY BEGIN IN BRAZIL

by Drew Lerner

Rainfall in the country's grain
production region was disrupted by
a developing La Niña event
Minas Gerais by the end of October. Back in the "olden days"
of farming when only one crop was produced, producers
timed their planting to coincide with the start of the monsoon
season and there was always plenty of moisture to support the
one crop no matter when the rainy season started or stopped.
WEATHER DISRUPTIONS
Delays in the arrival or departure of monsoon patterns are
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become anomalous. One of the more familiar of these larger
weather patterns that interfere with monsoonal precipitation
is La Niña and El Niño events. ENSO events (a generic term
for both La Niña and El Niño) will impact the start and stop
dates for monsoonal patterns and can change the intensity of
the seasonal rainfall. However, eventually the change in the
earth's angle to the sun will bring an end to, or a start of, monsoonal precipitation.
This year's start to monsoonal rainfall in Brazil was disrupted by a developing La Niña event. La Niña was delaying the
shift of weather patterns in the Southern Hemisphere, resulting in drier-than-usual conditions from the Amazon River Basin southward into Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins and parts
of Minas Gerais.
Rarely will the monsoon season fail to evolve, and in BraNovember 2017 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

ne of the most amazing aspects of world weather is that
no matter how adverse conditions seem to get at times,
when it is time for the seasons to change, they tend to
change. Sometimes they are a little late and sometimes a little
early, but one of the few things mankind can truly count on is
the seasonal changes in weather patterns. After several weeks
of frustrating dryness in parts of Brazil's center west grain
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arrived.
One of the more interesting aspects to Brazilian weather is
the long growing season that occurs from October into April.
Producers learned a few decades ago that seasonal rains usuDOO\ODVWORQJHQRXJKLQ%UD]LOIRUDWOHDVWWZRGL൵HUHQWFURSV
to be produced - one right after the other. Getting both crops
planted and harvested in optimum conditions can be a bit of
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more unreliable rainfall period and if the rains are not timely
or abundant enough, it can result in notable delays to planting
- similar to that of this year. Delayed early season planting
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delays in planting the second season crop, which is also dependent upon seasonal rainfall.
A part of the annual rain in Brazil is driven by a monsoon
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Southeast Asia and Mexico. However, monsoonal patterns are
driven by changes in the earth's angle to the sun, which makes
them highly dependable.
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RI-XQHDQGTXLWHRIWHQZLWKLQWKH¿UVWIHZGD\VRIWKDWPRQWK
Similarly, monsoon patterns in both hemispheres seem to
occur like clockwork with Brazil normally starting in Mato
Grosso and Goias in late September. The Brazilian monsoon
normally expands to the south into Parana, São Paulo and

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World Grain - November 2017

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