We are pleased to announce the addition of a new ranch to Suma AgroValor assets under management. Located in the department of Lavalleja, the property spans nearly 750 hectares of outstanding countryside, with impressive residential facilities and significant operational potential.

The operation is an ongoing cattle business. We will be able to make a smooth transition to new management with an excellent cattle herd (Black Angus).

We look forward to sharing updates as the project progresses.

Agricultural insurance is becoming an increasingly important part of farm management in Uruguay. While insurance penetration is still lower than in Europe and North America, more farmers and farmland investors are recognizing its value as an effective tool to reduce production risks and protect long-term returns.

At Suma AgroValor, we manage agricultural and forestry properties for international landowners and institutional investors. As part of our comprehensive farm management services in Uruguay, we regularly arrange insurance for annual crops, forestry plantations, and farm infrastructure. Based on our experience, agricultural insurance provides excellent value and contributes to more stable investment performance.

Crop Insurance in Uruguay

Crop insurance in Uruguay is arranged on a seasonal basis, allowing producers to select the coverage that best fits their cropping plan and risk profile.

Depending on the insurer and policy, coverage may include:

• Fire
• Hail
• Strong winds
• Frost
• Re-seeding costs
• Excess rainfall and lack of firm soil for harvesting
• Yield protection

For the farms we manage, the average premium is approximately USD 35 per hectare, depending on the crop, location, and selected coverage.

Our experience has been consistently positive. Almost every season, localized weather events affect part of a crop, whether through hail damage or the need for re-seeding. Insurance compensation helps recover these losses and often finances a substantial portion of future insurance premiums, reducing the overall financial impact on the farming operation.

Forestry Insurance

Insurance is also available for commercial forestry plantations in Uruguay, particularly against fire risk.

As trees mature and the value of standing timber increases, insurance premiums rise accordingly. For long-term forestry investments in Uruguay, insurance is an essential component of professional risk management.

Insurance for Farm Infrastructure

In addition to crops and forestry, farm infrastructure such as machinery sheds, storage facilities, irrigation equipment, and other agricultural assets can be insured against risks including fire and storm damage.

Protecting physical assets ensures that unexpected events do not interrupt farm operations or reduce the value of the investment.

Worker Protection

All registered agricultural employees in Uruguay are covered through the country’s mandatory social security and workers’ compensation system. This provides legal protection for both employers and employees in the event of workplace accidents.

Why Agricultural Insurance Matters

Agriculture will always involve weather-related risks. Although Uruguay offers excellent natural conditions for farming, no agricultural business is immune to extreme weather events.

For international investors, agricultural insurance offers greater financial certainty and complements professional farm management. It protects production, preserves asset value, and contributes to more predictable long-term returns.

At Suma AgroValor, we consider insurance an integral part of responsible agricultural asset management. Together with careful agronomic planning, financial control, and sustainable farming practices, it helps safeguard the long-term success of farmland investments in Uruguay.

Forecasters are confirming it — Uruguay is in a strong-to-very-strong El Niño event that will shape the rest of 2026 and stretch well into 2027. The regional signature: more rainfall intensity and more rainy days across the country. Mind you that the picture is from 2016. 

We’re already seeing it on the ground. About a week ago, many parts of Uruguay saw over 200mm of rain in a single weekend, with storms strong enough to damage electricity poles and wash away sections of fencing. It’s a good reminder that this pattern isn’t just a forecast on paper — it’s already shaping the season, and it’s worth factoring storm resilience, particularly fencing and infrastructure, into farm planning over the coming months.

Below, we break down what this means sector by sector.

Cattle

Wetter conditions across Uruguay’s river basins translate quickly into better pasture growth and quality, and fewer critical dry stretches during summer. More grass means more weight gain and stronger forage stability heading into next year. It’s no surprise Uruguay’s livestock sector is already being described as “firm” in 2026 — one of the pillars of the country’s export income, alongside beef, wool, and dairy.

Row Crops

Soybean and maize typically benefit from El Niño’s more regular rainfall pattern in this part of South America — a contrast to central-northern Brazil, which often faces water deficits during these events. That imbalance could open real opportunity for Uruguay to gain share in South American soy exports, with stronger premiums and better margins for local producers. The main thing to manage is harvest logistics if rainfall runs heavy — a planning consideration, not a fundamental constraint.

Winter Crops (Wheat & Rapeseed): A Record Season Taking Shape

Uruguay’s 2026 winter campaign got off to its strongest start in years — rapeseed, canola, and carinata sowing raced ahead of schedule, with wheat and barley close behind. If El Niño stays moderate through the rest of winter, the country is on track for one of its best winter grain harvests this century. The one thing to watch is timing: excess rainfall during flowering or grain-fill could still weigh on yields, so this is a season where good agronomic management matters more than usual — but the starting position is about as strong as it gets.

Forestry

Established eucalyptus and pine plantations are far less sensitive to a wet season than annual crops. The main watch-point is harvest and extraction logistics on unpaved roads during peak rainfall — not tree growth itself. This is exactly why forestry continues to serve as such a stabilizing asset class in a diversified Uruguayan land portfolio.

The Bigger Picture

This is a season where the underlying strength of Uruguay’s agricultural system — steady rain, productive soils, and diversified output across beef, grain, and timber — really shows.

At Suma AgroValor, we’re monitoring these conditions closely across the properties under our management, with particular attention to infrastructure resilience and harvest timing where it matters most. If you’d like to discuss how this season’s outlook applies to your operation, get in touch with our team.

The ideal scenario is straightforward: take over management of a farm right after purchase, with a clean slate to build from. In practice, it’s rarely that simple — and that’s where our experience matters most.

We regularly step into farms where previous administration hasn’t delivered the results it should have, for a range of reasons. It’s common to see a period of decay in the years leading up to a sale, when there’s little incentive to invest in a property that’s about to change hands. The same pattern often appears when an owner is approaching retirement, or when a farm passes through inheritance — those final years frequently bring a degree of neglect that a new operation has to work through before it can move forward. The transition often means handing over several garbage bags with years of financial administration randomly thrown aside. We recently had this experience with farms in Cerro largo and Treinta y Tres.

Recognizing these patterns early lets us build a realistic turnaround plan from day one, rather than treating the transition as a fresh start when it’s really a recovery.

Many landowners spend considerable time maintaining their property, but much less time organizing surveys, easements, access information, leases, water well records, and other important documents.

Those documents often become most important when a property is sold, transferred, or passed to the next generation.

The farm may be in excellent condition, but missing paperwork can create unnecessary delays, confusion, and frustration when important decisions need to be made.

Good stewardship isn’t only about taking care of the land. It’s also about keeping important information organized and accessible for the future.

Soil health is consistently top of mind for the landowners we work with — and for good reasons. It’s the foundation everything else builds on. In recent months, we’ve been applying lime and plowing land across several of the farms under our management in Colonia and Durazno, work we expect to translate into better soil structure and stronger yields in the seasons ahead. The cost of plowing is 70 USD per hectare and the cost for applying lime is 50 USD per hectare. One can buy lime at 350 USD per ton in Uruguay.

We’re also exploring bio-fertilizers as an alternative to conventional options, which have grown increasingly exposed to global price volatility. It’s a path worth watching closely as input costs continue to shift.

At the same time, we’ve been updating soil management and crop rotation plans across several properties. Beyond the agronomic benefits, this gives us a clearer picture for projecting cash flows — turning soil strategy into something landowners can plan around, not just react to.

Beef and cattle prices are strong right now — not just in Uruguay, but globally. Supply shortages in the US combined with rising demand across the Far East have created real momentum in meat markets, and farm owners across Uruguay are taking notice, shifting more focus onto their cattle operations. To give an idea of prices, a pregnant heifer may sell for a price between 1200 and 1400 USD.

The shift tends to take one of two forms. Some operations expand their own feed production, growing more grain on-farm to convert directly into kilos of steer. Feedlots are a good business option in the current market. Others move into cattle breeding, building their own herd rather than paying rising prices to buy replacement animals and maintain a healthy stocking rate. Which path makes sense depends heavily on the individual farm — its soil quality, its layout, and the staff available to run it.

These are medium-term decisions, and they hinge on where cattle prices are headed over the next few years. The consensus among market analysts is encouraging: most point to a positive outlook for cattle prices continuing well into the future.

In July all farmers in Uruguay need to declare their herd to the authorities. It will be interesting to see the composition this year and then compare it to the herd next year.

When landowners decide to invest capital in their Uruguayan farm, it’s usually driven by one of two goals: adding lasting value to the asset, or turning around an operation that has drifted into decline and needs a fresh start toward profitability.

Over the years, we’ve delivered a wide range of special projects across the farms we manage — airstrips, irrigation systems and boreholes (12.000 USD for a 35 meter deep borehole), contractor housing, and the internal road networks that keep a property running smoothly day to day. To give an idea, the cost of constructing an entirely new internal road is 8.000 USD per km. We’ve also designed and built keylines in crop fields, developed drinking water systems for livestock, installed new cattle corrals, and cleared land of invasive bush and weeds to restore productive pasture.

At their core, these projects fall into two categories: improving the farm’s productivity, or strengthening its infrastructure — and often, its overall look and feel. A well-executed special project doesn’t just add value on paper; it changes how a property functions and how it feels to walk it.

Our approach is straightforward. We prepare a detailed budget, present it to the landowner for authorization, and only then move to execution. It’s a simple process on paper — but keeping a project on schedule in Uruguay takes experience, local relationships, and constant attention on the ground. That’s exactly where we add value.

We are pleased to announce the addition of a new ranch to Suma AgroValor assets under management. Located in the department of Treinta y Tres, the property spans nearly 1,500 hectares of outstanding countryside, with impressive residential facilities and significant operational potential.

Our immediate priorities are restoring operational infrastructure, securing external fencing, and ensuring full regulatory compliance. From there, our focus will shift to resuming normal operations and driving the property toward profitability.

We look forward to sharing updates as the project progresses.

We seeded at USD 350/ton and are now harvesting at approximately USD 412/ton. Along the way, we secured sales at USD 375, 395, and 405—ensuring a balanced pricing strategy.

Yields are below initial expectations due to the dry summer and lack of rainfall during the critical mid-January to mid-February period. Nevertheless, results remain above the national average with 2,000 kg per hectare, setting a solid benchmark.

Harvest is now a race against time, with weather risks increasing. A potential El Niño pattern could bring significant rainfall in the coming months.

Looking ahead, rapeseed and cover crops (oats and vetch) are already in the ground. Wheat planting is underway alongside second-crop soybeans. While current urea prices challenge wheat economics, maintaining a sound crop rotation remains essential.

Is camelina a viable SAF crop in Uruguay? Perspective from farm and industry.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is gaining momentum globally, and oilseed crops like camelina are increasingly part of the conversation. We tried it last year on 200 hectares and will continue this year on 80 hectares.

Camelina is being promoted internationally by players such as Louis Dreyfus Company, typically under contract farming schemes that include seed supply, technical support, and guaranteed offtake. The crop is positioned as a winter rotation, particularly after soybeans, with strong links to SAF demand in Europe and the U.S.

From a Uruguayan perspective, camelina presents an interesting alternative:
• Low input requirements compared to traditional winter crops
• Short cycle, allowing timely planting of soybeans or maize
• A viable option when wheat or barley carry higher risk

Yields are modest, but so are production costs. It can function as a “service crop” within the system, with upside potential in favorable conditions. Current pricing is around USD 500/ton, with yields ranging from ~700 to 1,400 kg/ha depending largely on planting timing and weather conditions.

Challenges remain—particularly around weed control and limited local adoption—but the crop offers flexibility and diversification in increasingly volatile input and climate conditions.

Uruguay is positioning itself in the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) space—not only through crops like camelina or carinata, but now also through industrial investment.

The NovaSAF-1 project in Durazno, led by Syzygy Plasmonics together with Estancias del Lago, marks a shift from concept to execution. With production already contracted to Trafigura, demand is clearly in place.

What stands out is the model: converting agricultural by-products into aviation fuel. It connects farming, energy, and global markets in a very tangible way.

For landowners, the implication is subtle but important. Agriculture is no longer just about crops or livestock—it is becoming part of a broader energy and industrial system.

While not yet mainstream in Uruguay, camelina is worth watching as SAF markets continue to develop and global demand strengthens.