I am a fourth generation farmer in Uruguay. We grow crops on leased land and also manage farms for international and some local investors. My father’s family had crops and cattle but I focus on crops only for now.We lease just under 2,000ha to grow our own crops in Rio Negro, which is in the northwest of Uruguay, and we are trying to get new land in Colonia, further south. The land is two hours’ drive from where I live.
I am a fourth generation farmer in Uruguay. We grow crops on leased land and also manage farms for international and some local investors. My father’s family had crops and cattle but I focus on crops only for now.
We lease just under 2,000ha to grow our own crops in Rio Negro, which is in the northwest of Uruguay, and we are trying to get new land in Colonia, further south. The land is two hours’ drive from where I live.
Around 50% of the lands here is double-cropped, which means we grow a crop of wheat, canola or winter barley, followed by a crop of soybean or corn (maize) in the same year.
On the rest of the land, we sow with a cover crop of oats or clover which we spray off with herbicide around September and then plant with soy or corn.
At the moment the crops look good but we have had too much rain in recent days. This could delay the application of nitrogen, at a time when the plant needs a lot of it.
The annual rainfall in Uruguay is 1,000mm but we have had 80mm in the last week. That is a problem sometimes; we get 100mm or 200mm in a short time and then when we need rain, we don’t get it.
I posted a video of harvesting corn in very wet conditions last week. It’s from a farm owned by an Argentinian friend. It looks like the combine harvester is surfing in the water!
It was a double crop of wheat first and corn second. That’s a long cycle, which made the crop very late, most of the corn was harvested in March. It was not the best scenario but it was very late and we needed to cut it.
In machinery, we use a lot of the well-known brands such as New Holland, Case and John Deere.
We use 200hp to 250hp New Holland T6-7 series tractors and a CR 9.80 combine harvester with a 40ft to 45ft cut header, all equipped with yield monitoring and precisionAg. The sprayer is a John Deere 4710 self-propelled sprayer with a 30m boom.
For winter crops we use a John Deere or Grain Plains seed drill, and for summer crops such as corn or soybean we use the same machines with precision planners.
Crop prices at the moment are not excellent but they are ok.
Soybean right now is $350 (€295) per metric tonne, based on the Chicago price. Corn is at $160/t (€135/t), wheat is $180/t (€152/t) and barley is $200/t (€169/t).
The barley is a good price. On soybean, it is a good price too but I would prefer more.
Our cost of production is around $400/ha (€338/ha) for seed, fertiliser, all of the sprays such as herbicide and insecticide and labour.
There is an additional $100/ha (€84/ha) freight charge at harvest to transport the crop to the port. Most of our crop is exported to China.
Leasing the land costs $200 to $300/ha (€169 to €253/ha) depending on location and soil quality. There is land to lease but there is competition for good land.
There are plenty of companies here who want to lease. Some are local Uruguayan farmers and some are Argentinian and American investors.
The general mood for farmers in Uruguay is ok right now. The numbers are too tight but that is because of the global price of commodities, it is not something we can control.
There is good capacity at the port for exporting crops. We also do a lot of business with our neighbouring countries. With Argentina we trade a lot of wheat and corn and with Brazil we trade in wheat and meat, but Brazil is more complicated now after the meat scandal.
We don’t have any subsidy from the government, but it does try to help the farmers a little sometimes. Recently, it reduced the price of diesel by 9%.
Uruguay has a stable economy which makes it simple for investors to develop a farm operation or agribusiness.
Many local and American investors are farmers already who will look for a property of 500ha up to 2,000ha. There are also bigger investors of 10 to 15 people who pool their money and want a much larger property of 20,000ha.
I think that although Uruguay is a small country, it produces very well and is a further contribution to the world food demand, we have to continue to produce these.
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