InfoAg 2003 Indianapolis, July 30-August 1 2003

1. InfoAg 2003Indianapolis, July 30-August 1 2003 Grain Production Systems in Argentina Fernando O. García www.inpofos.org

2. INPOFOS Southern Cone The Region Population (millions) Total Area (thousand km2) Acassuso 2780 Argentina 36 Bolivia 1099 8 Chile 757 15 Paraguay 5 407 Uruguay 177 3 Total 5220 67 USA 9374 270 Source: World Bank

3. 14435 39206 Area Production 6951 17322 14774 3817 Grain Crops in the Southern Cone Sources: SAGPyA (2003), INE (2000), ODEPA (2002), DCEA-MAG (2000) and MGAyP (2001)

4. 28° 40 inches Santa Fe 32° Córdoba Entre Ríos 36° Buenos Aires La Pampa 40° 20 inches The Pampas region of Argentina Southern Texas Indianapolis Map developed with ArcView - ESRI

5. Crop Production in Argentina1991-2002 Source: SENASA-SAGPyA

6. Crop Area in Argentina1991-2002 Source: SENASA-SAGPyA

7. Yield evolution of grain crops 1991-2002 Source: SENASA-SAGPyA

8. Relative Increases in Production, Area and Yield of the Main Crops of Argentina between 1991 and 2002

9. Continuous Soy Cotton Wheat/Soy Sunflower/Soy Sugarcane Continuous Soy Soy – Corn Wheat/Soy Pastures Rice - Pastures Soy - Rice Continuous Soy Wheat/Soy Corn – Wheat/Soy Corn – Soy - Wheat/Soy Pastures Continuous Soy Corn - Soy Pastures Wheat – Sunflower Corn – Wheat/Soy Corn – Soy - Wheat Pastures Wheat – Sunflower Wheat – Barley Wheat - Fallow Corn – Soy - Wheat Rotations and Sequences

10. Soybeans: Increases in Area by Province

11. Area planted to Soybeans in the County of Caseros South-Central Santa Fe - Soybean Belt of Argentina - 2000/01 Source: G. Cordone (INTA Casilda)

12. Why is the planted area and production increasing? • Improved and stable economy • Good grain international prices in the mid 90’s • Climate change: Better precipitation regime in the western Pampas • Expansion of no-tillage • GR Soybean Varieties • Improved crop management (hybrids, varieties, weed and pests control, etc) • Greater use of fertilizers

13. 14,200,000 ha in 2001/02 51% of the total cropped area Area under No-Tillage in Argentina Source: AAPRESID (2003)

14. GR Soybeans expansion in Argentina

15. Annual rate of increase (thousand ton per year) Period Total N fertilizers P fertilizers Others 1991-1996 257 141 104 13 1996-2001 80 58 21 - 1991-2001 166 88 69 9 Fertilizer consumption in Argentina, 1991-2001Source: SENASA-SAGPyA

16. Economics of grain production for the Northern Pampas

17. Potential Growth of Grain Crop Production • Current grain production of 72 million t (35 million t soybeans) • Potential for 2011/12 of 110 million t (60% soybeans) • Increases in planted area of soybeans in the northeastern and northwestern regions • Narrow the yield gap

18. Current and Potential Yield for Advanced Technology Farmers

19. Soybean fertilization at Videla (Santa Fe) 2002/03H. Vivas y H. Fontanetto – EEA INTA Rafaela P + S Check 64 bu/A 46 bu/A

20. CREA Southern Santa Fe Balducchi, Teodelina, Santa Fe 2000/01 44 bu/A + 49% NPS 134 bu/A Check 89 bu/A

21. CREA Southern Santa Fe La Marta, Canals, Córdoba 2000/01 47 bu/A + 33% Check 144 bu/A NPS 192 bu/A

22. Check 28 bu/A Wheat Fertilization NPS 54 bu/A Balducchi (Santa Fe) 2001-02 CREA Southern Santa Fe Thomas et al. (2002)

23. Constraints for increasing grain crop production in Argentina • Instability of the economy in the country • Lack of credit • Decline in soil fertility because of low nutrient use, especially in soybeans • Sustainability of rotations, soybeans monoculture! • Changes in climate? • Potential international market restrictions for GMO soybeans and corn

24. Nutrient Removal and Application in Wheat, Corn, Soybean and Sunflower Argentina - 2000/01 1392 657 280 In 2000/01, nutrient application was 24%, 42%, and less than 1% of the N, P, and K extracted per year, respectively Potential needs of 1 million ton N, 160 thousand ton P, and 650 thousand ton K

25. Nutrient Removal and Application in Wheat, Corn, Soybean and Sunflower Argentina - Average 1996/2001 1090 475 228 In the period 1996-2001, nutrient application was 29%, 45%, less than 1%, and 9% of the N, P, K, and S removed per year, respectively

26. P availability in the Pampas region Darwich, 1980, 1993 and 1999 Area I : Low (< 10 ppm) Area II : Medium (10-20 ppm) Area III : Adequate (> 20 ppm)

27. Precision Agriculture in Argentina • Adoption of PA in Argentina started when INTA launched in 1996 a National Project of Precision Agriculture at EEA INTA Manfredi (Cordoba) leaded by Mario Bragachini (www.agriculturadeprecision.org) • Yield monitors, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) guidance and satellite images are increasingly used in large operations, while variable rate application (VRA) is rare. • Constraints for the adoption of PA are: high investment cost, high risk, low management-induced soil variability, and the widespread use of custom operators. • Adoption of PA is supported from: large farm operations with relatively high capital per worker, highly educated farm management, technology available from abroad, need for yield information, and ease of pooling data. • Remote sensing for agriculture in Argentina is becoming increasingly used. • The potential of precision farming in Argentina’s agriculture is to reduce costs in grain production, to increase productivity and make input use more efficient. • The challenge is to manage our agronomic knowledge to put these tools to work. Source: Bragachini et al., 2002; Bongiovanni, 2003 (www.agriculturadeprecision.org)

28. Current Adoption and Evolution of Precision Agriculture Technologies in Argentina (Bongiovanni, 2003) More information at www.agriculturadeprecision.org