All summer crops (maize, rice, and soybean) have now been planted and are currently growing; winter wheat was close to harvest or actually being harvested

Rainfall was significantly lower than the average (22% below average). The average temperature dropped 1 °C compared average, while solar radiation was about average (only 1% above average). The conditions led to a significant reduction in the biomass production potential (1194 gDM/m2, 13% below 5YA). 

The country-wide crop condition development graph based on NDVI and the spatial distribution of NDVI profiles show crop condition  below the last 5 years average during the monitoring period except in October when the NDVI values were above the average. The worst condition were in the middle of December, when winter wheat was being harvested and summer crops were still at early stages.

Maximum VCI confirms that, in large areas of the country and also nationwide crop conditions was not as favorable as during previous seasons, mostly due to poor rainfall. The CropWatch estimate for wheat production in 2017-2018 is -4.7% less than the previous year's production.

Regional analysis

CropWatch subdivides Argentina into eight agro-ecological zones (AEZ) based on cropping systems, climatic zones, and topography; they are identified by numbers in the VCIx map. Only four of them are found to be relevant for crops cultivation: the Chaco (2), Mesopotamia (3), the Pampas (4), and the Subtropical highlands (8) for which the crop conditions will be discussed with some detail in this section.

In the four AEZs the association between the drop in rainfall, and the reduction in biomass is obvious. For instance, the largest drop in RAIN was in the Pampas zone (29% below 15YA) which also suffered the largest reduction in biomass production potential (1184 gDM/m2, 17 % below 5YA). On the contrary, the lowest drop in rainfall was in Mesopotamia (-15% below the average) was associated with reduction in BIOMSS (1609  gDM/m2, 7% below 5YA). The temperature departure was almost the same for both zones (1 °C below average). RADPAR also displayed the highest increase for Mesopotamia (1411 MJ/m2,  3% above average) compared with the other AEZs. According to the cropped arable land fraction indicator (CALF) the whole area was almost fully cultivated, resulting from a marked increase for the Chaco and the Subtropical highlands zones (CALF, 11% and 10 % above 5YA respectively) compared to five previous seasons.

In general, the VCIx average value, which reflects crop condition based on NDVI,  was 0.82 for the four AEZ. The minimum value occurred in the Pampas (0.78) and the maximum was 0.86 in the Chaco.

Figure 3.5. Argentina crop condition, October-Jan. 2018.

                                                                            (a). Phonology of major crops

                              (b) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI                     (c) Maximum VCI

                                                   (d) Spatial distribution of NDVI profiles

(e) Crop condition development zone based on NDVI (Chaco region (left) and Pampas zone (right)).

(f) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Mesopotamia zone (left) and Subtropical highlands zone (right)).

Table 3.2. Argentina agroclimatic indicators by agroecologcal  regions, current season's values and departure from average, October-January 2018.

Table 3.3. Argentina agronomic indicators by agroecological regions, current season's values and departure from 5YA, October-January 2018.

Table 3.13.CropWatch-predicted wheat production for Argentina in 2017-2018 (thousand tons)