Argentina farmlands face cold snap that could slow leafhopper plague

By Maximilian Heath

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina farm regions will see near-freezing temperatures in the coming days, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said in a report on Thursday, which could help against an insect plague hitting the corn crop.

Argentina is the no. 3 global exporter of corn, but an unprecedented outbreak of leafhopper insects carrying a disease that attacks corn prompted the exchange to cut its forecast for the harvest to 46.5 million tons.

The insects thrive in warmer weather but cannot resist in temperatures under 4 degrees Celsius.

In a weekly weather report, the exchange said that in the next seven days Argentina's key Pampas farm region and the southwest of Uruguay "would observe minimum temperatures between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius, with the risk of localized frosts."

Temperatures around zero degrees would reach the center of the provinces of Santa Fe and Córdoba, important agricultural areas that have registered heavy damage at the hands of the leafhopper spread, the exchange added.

(Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Michael Erman)