First Hand Look at Uruguay Crops

Today we went and looked at a farm that was managed by Santiago Narbaiz, his brother Jouquin, and another team member Juan. Santiago and Jouqin own their own crop consulting and farm management company called Servi Charca or Field Service. Their main focus is consulting and managing land for foreign investors from the United States and the United Kingdom. Santiago also spent a year in North Dakota working on a crop and cattle farm.

The team from Servi Charca explaining to the students about agronomy in Uruguay, Juan, Jouquin and Santiago. 

The main crops that are grown by Santiago and Jouqin are soybeans, wheat, and corn. They also have some barley and canola within some rotations. A typical crop rotation in Uruguay for double crop  consists of soybeans followed by either wheat, barley, or canola. For a single crop it consists of a cover crop of oats followed by a full season soybean or corn. Typical maturity groups for Uruguay soybeans in this area are group 5 to 6, compared to group 2 in the northern Midwest. Corn maturity is 190 to 210 for a single crop, and 180 for a double crop compared to the upper Midwest were we plant 93-105 day corn.

No cold winters in Uruguay and direct/no-till planting result in a higher pest pressure than found in the upper Midwest. Even though Uruguay is located in the Southern Hemisphere, they deal with many of the same pests we do in our backyard. Some of the main insects include grasshoppers, stink bugs, caterpillars, thrips, and spider mites. They recently sprayed an insecticide that will give them 20 days of protection against insects. They also deal with similar fungal and bacterial diseases that we do in the U.S. As in the U.S. they are also dealing with Roundup resistant weeds, which include marestail and ryegrass. To combat herbicide resistance they are beginning to use many different herbicides similar to those in the U.S.

Students Jalen Baldwin and Dan Hansen taking a close look at Soybeans that were planted around Nov 20th. 

Soil type and topography influence crop management practices. Most crops here are no-tilled/ direct planted into the prior crops stubble. This helps to reduce soil erosion from high rainfalls and rolling land. No-till leads to problems nutrient availability in their soil, because there is no mixing of soil most nutrients are in the top few inches. Compaction is also a problem that arises from no-till farming in Uruguay. Santiago is planning on adding tillage into his cropping rotation to help minimize this problem.

Santiago provided a lot of data for the students on common yields, seeding rates, rotations etc., and the students were filling there notebooks fast taking it all in. 

A full morning was spent looking at soybeans in various stages from a week planted to almost 2 months, and students had many questions about how the rotations of year round cropping worked. 

Since the farms Santiago manages are so far away from each other he has to hire customer planting and harvesting at some farms. Santiago does own his own equipment but can't move them from farm to farm due to the long distance. Most of his equipment is bought in the U.S. and shipped to Uruguay because the prices are higher here. Many farmers here use the same equipment as we do equipped with similar GPS and yield monitoring systems. 

Santiago and Dale McMullen discussed in depth some options to deal with certain issues on this particular crop and what protocols would be used in the U.S. 

The Servi Charca team challenged the SDSU students to study this field and offer suggestions for the next step of weed or herbicide control, afterwards the group gathered for a photo. 

The tour today showed us how crop production is similar and different from our home areas.. Many of the same crop management techniques are used in Uruguay as in the U.S., even though the growing season here is different. We would like to thank Santiago, Jouquin, and Juan for inviting us on a tour of their farm. 

For one day Uruguay and the U.S. Joined forces to discuss common agriculture issues especially those focused around agronomy. 

Submitted By Jason Madison & Dale McMullen