By Maximilian Heath
BUENOS AIRES, June 12 (Reuters) – While intense El Nino conditions could hurt harvests in much of the world, the climate phenomenon is likely to boost agricultural production in Argentina in the second half of the year, climate specialists said.
On Thursday, the United States’ Climate Prediction Center said El Nino conditions will intensify as the second half of 2026 progresses.
The El Nino phenomenon causes warm ocean waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, leading to lower rainfall in large parts of Asia and Australia, and raising fears about diminished global food supplies and higher prices due to droughts.
But in Argentina, a leading exporter of soybeans, corn and wheat, the phenomenon increases the frequency and intensity of rainfall, which generally favors crop development, climate specialists said.
“The 2026/27 season will be entirely marked by the presence of El Nino and will be a positive factor,” said German Heinzenknecht, meteorologist at the Argentine Applied Climatology Consultancy.
The last intense El Nino occurred in the 2015/16 cycle, when Argentina recorded the second-largest soybean harvest in its history, at 59.1 million metric tons, and the average corn yield was 7% higher than the average of the last 10 years, according to official data.
“In the agricultural heartland, an area that doesn’t flood because it has good water drainage, El Nino produces very good yields,” said climate specialist Eduardo Sierra.
Corn planting in Argentina will begin in September and soybean planting in October.
The country’s producers are already sowing the 2026/27 wheat crop, which could reach 20 million tons, according to the Rosario Board of Trade, which would be the third-largest harvest of the cereal for Argentina.
(Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Leila Miller; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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