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

For the whole country, rainfall showed a   positive anomaly of +18%, TEMP showed a slight positive anomaly (+0.2℃), RADPAR was at average and BIOMSS   showed a 5% positive anomaly.

CropWatch subdivides Argentina into eight   agro-ecological zones (AEZ) based on cropping systems, climatic zones, and   topography; they are identified by numbers on the NDVI departure cluster map.   During this monitoring period, most crops were grown in the following four   agro-ecological zones: Chaco, Mesopotamia, Humid Pampas, and Subtropical   Highlands. The other agro-ecological zones were less relevant for this   period. Main crops in Chaco and Subtropical Highlands are soybean and maize.   In Pampas and South Mesopotamia, main crops are soybean, maize and wheat,   while in North Mesopotamia main crop is rice.

RAIN showed a negative anomaly in   Mesopotamia (-11%), a slight positive anomaly in Chaco (+4%) and strong   positive anomalies in Humid Pampas (+32%) and Subtropical Highlands   (+68%).  TEMP showed negative anomalies   in Chaco (-0.1℃) and   Subtropical Highlands (-0.9℃).   Positive TEMP anomalies were observed in Humid Pampas (+0.3℃) and Mesopotamia (+0.7℃). Related to the strong positive   anomaly in RAIN, Subtropical Highlands showed a strong negative anomaly in   RADPAR (-9%). Positive anomalies were observed in Chaco (+2%) and Mesopotamia   (+5%), while Pampas showed no anomaly in RADPAR. BIOMSS showed negative   anomalies in Chaco (-1%) and Mesopotamia (-4%), and positive anomalies in   Humid Pampas (+10%) and Subtropical Highlands (+12%).

CALF showed no anomaly in Mesopotamia and   a positive anomaly (+2%) in Humid Pampas, being almost complete in both   regions. Chaco and Subtropical highlands showed negative anomalies of -3% and   -9%, respectively. VCIx showed regular values for Chaco (0.72), Subtropical   Highlands (0.72) and Mesopotamia (0.78) and good conditions in Humid Pampas   (0.87).

For the whole country, crop condition   development graph based on NDVI showed during most of the period values below   average. Observed values were very similar to those observed during the last   growing season. Humid Pampas showed above average values during October and   beginning November, near average values since end November up to December and   below average values during January. Chaco showed for all the reporting   period, below average conditions. Values up to beginning December were higher   than the last growing season, while values since end of December were below   those observed in the last growing season mainly due to the shortage of   rainfall in December and early January. Moisture tended to be normal thanks   to favorable rainfall in mid and late-January which might accelerate crop   development in Chaco region. Mesopotamia, which is major rice producing   region, showed no anomalies during October and beginning November, but   negative anomalies since then. Since end December, values were also lower   than the last growing season. Subtropical Highlands showed below average   values during all the reporting period, presenting values also lower than the   last growing season since end December.

Rainfall profiles showed near average   conditions during most of the period in Argentina, except for end of December   and beginning of January, when higher negative anomalies were observed. Chaco   and Mesopotamia showed strong negative anomalies in precipitation at the   beginning of December and January. Pampas showed also negative anomalies at   end December and beginning January, and Subtropical highlands at beginning   January only. TEMP profile changed between positive and negative anomalies   along the reporting period with higher frequency of negative anomalies.

Spatial distribution of NDVI profiles   showed several homogeneous patterns. North of the country was dominated by   the red profile, which showed below average conditions along all the   reporting period, presenting its lowest values during end December and   January. This profile was also observed in Center East of Pampas. Blue   profile was observed in South East and North West Pampas and West Subtropical   Highlands and showed below average values except for the beginning and the   end of the reporting period where no anomalies were observed. Most of the   Pampas was dominated by a mixture of dark green and light green profiles. The   first profile showed average values in general and above average values in   November and December. Light green profile showed negative anomalies during   October and November and recovered to above average values since December.

Maximum VCI showed quite good conditions   (values higher than 0.8) in Humid Pampas, excepting an area in South West of   Buenos Aires province which showed poor conditions (values below 0.5). Good   conditions were also observed in West Subtropical Highlands, North East Chaco   and South Mesopotamia.

Argentina showed variable conditions   among zones. Pampas, the main agricultural region, showed in general good   conditions for crop growing with NDVI profiles above or near average and high   VCIx values. Mesopotamia and Chaco showed negative anomalies in NDVI,   precipitation and intermediate VCIx values. Subtropical Highlands showed also   negative anomalies and variable VCIx values.

Figure 3.7 Argentina’s crop   condition, October 2021 – January 2022