A pest is causing problems for Argentine corn farmers.
Michael Cordonnier with Soybean and Corn Advisor tells Brownfield corn leaf hopper is spreading corn stunt disease.
“It was really bad this year, so everybody is lowering their corn estimates in Argentina drastically from where we started.”
He tells Brownfield the insect is endemic to northern Argentina, but the pressure has never been worse.
“And the guys that lost money on the corn this year, that lost yield, they are going to plant less corn come September, October, November and plant more soybeans in Argentina.”
USDA’s most recent crop estimates for South America trimmed Argentine corn production 2 million tons to 53 million largely because of corn leaf hopper and the spread of corn stunt disease.
