News

Changing weather in South America could impact international supplies

Eric Snodgrass, the chief atmospheric scientist with Nutrien Ag Solutions, says an El Niño weather pattern is starting to develop and it could impact global supplies.

“The trade winds are making these huge surges in the wrong direction,” he says. “The waters are warming up. Historically, if you look at what drives safrinha crop dryness, that’s the first thing.”

He says excess rainfall in northern Brazil is starting to impact their soybean harvest and safrinha corn planting, but, “When we will probably hear about an issue on the safrinha crop is probably one month into when you’ve planted a crop here in the United States. It may help compound some of the seasonality in our spring crops and the prices, but up until this point, I don’t think we have a useful story coming out of South America.” 

Snodgrass made his comments during the 2026 University of Illinois Ag Outlook Conference.