(NDAgConnection.com) – The arrival of rains in September allowed for a promising start to Brazil’s 2022/2023 soybean season, with farmers poised to reap a record of 150.62 million tonnes despite the drought risks associated with the La Niña weather phenomenon in southern Brazil.

According to the average of 12 analysts polled by Reuters, expectations of a bumper crop are being driven by a record large planted area of 42.83 million hectares (105.8 million acres), which farmers are planting now.

Reuters reports that if the average of forecasts is confirmed, Brazilian soybean production will exceed last season’s by 25 million tonnes, when a drought in the southern farms of the country spoiled part of the crop.

“The beginning of planting is very good, it is moving fast, there is no lack of moisture, the rains are coming to the Midwest and Southeast,” said Luiz Roque, analyst at consulting firm Safras & Mercado. In some parts of southern Brazil, rains brought in excess moisture, but according to Roque, “it is better to have more than not enough.”

While farmers are off to a promising start to the season, the current cycle is the third in a row under some effect of the La Niña phenomenon, analysts said. This, they said, may compromise the crop.