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Guillermo Alonso, technical advisor for the sale and after-sales of seeds; Esteban López, general production coordinator; Germán Iturriza, export manager of Grupo Los Grobo and Carlos de la Cruz, sales manager of Molino Canepa, the leading company in wheat production in Argentina, in an exclusive interview with AgriBrasilis.

Argentina is a traditional wheat exporter and the largest producer in Latin America. What is the main destination of exports?

In 2020, according to Indec data, the top 5 exports from Argentina were Brazil, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kenya and Thailand.

What are Los Grobo's main activities in the wheat production chain in Argentina?

Multiplication of seeds, with 180,000 certified bags. Los Grobo Agropecuaria is one of the main multipliers of certified wheat seeds in Argentina. With processes in its own plants (Tandil, San Miguel del Monte, Jesus Maria) and third-party plants and with more than 40 producers / cooperating partners. We produce seeds from the main genetics companies in the country (Nidera, Don Mario, Bioceres, Syngenta / Buck, among others). The next campaign is expected to reach the market with a variety under license with its own brand.

In addition, during this last campaign the company planted some 42,100 hectares of wheat (which represents 0.64% of the 6.5 million hectares nationwide), in 6 of the producing provinces of Argentina, with the highest proportion in the Province of Buenos Aires, with its own 50% stake, this area originates some 145,000 tons of Grain (which represents 0.85% of the 17 MM tons nationwide), of which 72,500 are traded, either at flour mill, where flour is processed and produced, or for export through the ports of Rosario, Quequén or Bahía Blanca.

In this sense, the cultivation chain is integrated from primary production, through the management of those tons with logistics services of own and / or contracted freight, intermediate storage plant services, until then reaching the destinations of the milling industry, or export. What goes to the milling industry, and is sold as flour, also has the marketing part of the finished product, and the logistics of delivery.

What was the impact of the drought on the 2020/21 crop?

It had some harmful effects in the North region of the country, mainly NOA, NEA, Córdoba and Entre Ríos. In the rest of the regions (the main wheat regions of the country) the drought had practically no influence.

According to the cereal bag, this season wheat had a loss of about 10% compared to last season 2019/2020. We went from producing 18.8 million tons to closing this last cycle at 17 million tons.

Is there the possibility of expanding the area and / or the productivity of the crop?

Yes, of course, in addition to the current shift of the agricultural frontier beyond the 600 mm isohieta due to better agricultural practices and the arrival of new technologies, especially for the Central and Northern region of the country, where wheat is a purely defensive crop, In many environments, it is sown as a cover with low technology and if the year is climatic, it is harvested with lower yields in most cases than 1.5 tons. The agricultural area under irrigation should also be significantly increased in the country, which for wheat cultivation could be very important. In addition, the arrival of the HB4 drought gene from Bioceres could expand this frontier and crop productivity in environments with marked water stress.

What are the main phytosanitary, logistical, credit problems; related to the productive chain of this cereal?

Phytosanitary, little relevant. Because today it is known where performance and effective control are lost, and under well-studied economic damage threshold guidelines, the main pests and diseases are effectively controlled.

Logistics, yes. Because it is far from the ports. We should advance to a traceability classification system directly in the fields to improve the consignments and qualities, and with that to better reach the ports and better defend gate prices inside. There are areas of the country that should make more effort to find specific qualities for the different markets and mills and other areas that only have to worry about increasing the yield potentials. The great distances to ports, especially for merchandise from the NOA and NEA, is another factor to improve, obviously taking a wheat of US $ 160 to Rosario by truck, means losing competitiveness and remaining to spend on technologies in those areas.

Credit, not to mention, but it is a deficit inherent to all Argentine agriculture.

In domestic consumption, what are the impacts caused by the pandemic?

In the internal consumption of flour, the pandemic initially affected, with the reduction of the transit of people to the channel of bakeries and bakeries. There was a drastic reduction in consumption in those channels that were slowly recovering from month to month as stores began to open. First the bakeries and then the bakeries that supply bars and restaurants.

The reverse was the consumption of kilo flour. The more time at home that people had, made them encourage themselves to bake beyond the usual by using the purchase of product in supermarkets, wholesalers and warehouses. As people went back to normalcy and their work tasks, this home consumption decreased.

Are there expectations of technological innovations for production?

Yes to the aforementioned Bioceres drought gene, HB4; We should add many improvement plans for what is commercial, industrial and bakery quality (Gluten, W, Gliadins and High PM Glutenins). We are also working on genes that provide tolerance to spike fusarium, one of the main wheat diseases. There are other genes with more nutritional properties that are also quite advanced. Transgenic and mutagenic events with tolerances to different herbicides. Lines with greater tolerance to frost in grass and grain are being selected. → agribrasilis.com

Automatic translation from spanish.