Xmas rainstorms and soggy soil delaying soy and corn planting in Argentina

[Mark]

Argentina is the world's No. 2 corn exporter after the United States and its No. 1 soy-oil and soy-meal supplier. But sowing in the central Pampas farm belt lags last season's tempo by about 20 percentage points, said Tomas Parenti, an agronomist with the Rosario grains exchange.
 
Up to 100 millimetres of rain fell late on Monday and early Tuesday (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), forcing some growers once again to park their seeding machines lest they sink in the mud.
 
Any more harsh rains at this point -following an unusual August-October wet spell that turned prime Argentine farmland into soggy soil, will add to the problem, Parenti said.
 
“There is excessive moisture in low-lying areas throughout the central farm belt,” Parenti said, referring to an area including parts of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Cordoba provinces

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[Rwood]

These storms were preceded by extremely hot weather, with Buenos Aires residents on another forum claiming the nights near Christmas were the hottest they had ever experienced.