The lack of rains and the hot weather in Rio Grande do Sul, the southern-most state of Brazil, has worried corn and soybean growers. Corn planting in the state reached 95 percent of the surface last Friday, according to a report from the Rural Institute of Technical Assistance of Rio Grande do Sul. Nearly 56 percent of that corn planted is at flowering.

Planting of soybeans reached 92 percent in the state. The region of Ijuí is the most affected by dryness and high temperatures. To the east, in Lagoa Vermelha, early appearances of caterpillars, such as the Helicoverpa Armigera (known as the earworm in the U.S.), have worried farmers. Those are pictures sent by agronomist Carlos Dellavalle Filho.

Source - http://www.blackseagrain.net/