This reporting period covers the main growing stages for early maize and early soybean  and rice, the planting of late maize and late soybean and the harvesting of wheat.

Spatial distribution of rainfall profiles showed five clustering profiles. The north east of the zone (light green areas) showed strong negative anomalies during November and beginning of December, and a high positive anomaly at the beginning of January. The red areas in the north west of the zone, southern Brazil, and North Chaco in Argentina  showed moderate negative anomalies during almost the entire study period, except for a slight positive anomaly in mid-December. The orange region in the center north showed quite strong negative anomalies during the entire period. The negative departures increased over time. The dark green areas in the center south of Brazil, Paraguay and North Mesopotamia in Argentina showed high variability, moving from positive to negative anomalies all along the study period. The highest positive anomalies were observed at the beginning and at the end. The blue areas, covering the Pampas and Subtropical Highlands in Argentina and most of Uruguay showed reduced anomalies during most of the study period, except for high positive anomalies during January.  

Temperature showed five clustering profiles following a North East - South West pattern. North of the zone (light green areas) showed high temperature anomalies with a tendency to reduce in time. More to the South (dark green areas) lower positive anomalies were observed than for the light green profile. It showed a tendency to reduce in time too. The red areas located in Brazil, Paraguay and North Mesopotamia in Argentina started with negative anomalies and finished the period with positive anomalies. Orange areas (South of Brazil, Uruguay and North East Argentina) showed a similar tendency as the red profile, except for a stronger positive anomaly during January. The rest of Argentina (blue areas) showed a highly variable profile, with positive anomalies at the end of October, November, and December and beginning of January, and negative anomalies at the beginning of October, November and December, and end of January.

BIOMSS showed almost a North East-South West pattern. Poorest conditions (more than 20 % negative departure) were found in the North of Brazilian agricultural area, as well as in the south of Brazil. Less negative values were observed in the rest of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and North East Argentina. Positive anomalies were observed in the rest of Argentina, indicating overall favorable weather conditions in the country. CALF was almost complete, with the exception of sites in South Buenos Aires and North Subtropical Highlands in Argentina that remained uncropped. High VCIx values (higher than 0.8) were observed in the  north of the zone, and South Argentina (with the exception of areas located in the southern extreme of Buenos Aires province with values lower than 0.5). The center of the MPZ was dominated by intermediate values (between 0.5 and 0.8).

The region showed variable conditions during the reporting period. The north of the zone in Brazil showed poor conditions, with quite high temperature anomalies and strong negative anomalies in BIOMSS. Other regions like most of Argentina showed good conditions with positive BIOMSS departure values and less precipitation and temperature anomalies. In addition, the center of the MPZ and part of Argentina showed low VCIx, with below-average crop conditions.

Figure 2.3 South America MPZ: Agroclimatic and agronomic indicators, October 2021 to January 2022.

a. Spatial distribution of rainfall profiles b. Profiles of rainfall departure from average (mm) 

c. Spatial distribution of temperature profiles d. Profiles of temperature departure from average (°C)

e. Cropped and uncropped arable land

f. Potential biomass departure from 5YA

g. Maximum VCI

h. VHI Minimum