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Santa Fe Declares Farm Emergency as Floods Stall Harvests and Threaten Herds

Low-rate loans plus on-the-ground help target the hardest-hit northern departments.

Overview

  • Provincial officials declared an agricultural emergency for 9 de Julio, Vera, and General Obligado and rolled out four credit lines worth ARS 17,960 million to keep producers afloat.
  • Health and social teams working in the north reported more than 300 homes surveyed and over 700 people assisted with vaccines, safe water advice, and basic supplies.
  • Highly uneven rains above 300 mm in several departments left soils saturated and halted fieldwork, stopping early corn, sorghum, and rice harvests and freezing cotton near 15% complete.
  • Ranchers and local leaders said hundreds of thousands of cattle are at risk, with gauchos driving animals through deep water as roads wash out and a bridge over the Arroyo Golondrina turns impassable.
  • Experts and environmental groups tied the repeat floods to stronger storms and widespread Gran Chaco deforestation, while officials pressed for drainage projects and a reboot of the Bajos Submeridionales committee.