Planting of Brazil’s 2021/22 soybean crop reached 22% of the estimated area as of Oct. 14, making it the second-fastest ever in the South American grain powerhouse for the period, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday.

The sowing was up 12 percentage points from last week and compared with 8% in the same period of 2020/21, when the fieldwork was largely hurt by irregular rainfall, AgRural said.

“It is the second best planting in history for mid-October, only behind the 2018/19 season,” the consultancy noted.

According to AgRural, Mato Grosso and Parana – major grain-producing states in the country – continued to lead the planting, but some other states are gathering pace right now.

For Brazil’s 2021/22 first corn crop, AgRural said planting reached 45%, compared with 38% in the previous week and 44% a year earlier.

The consultancy said that despite the good pace in general, excessive humidity has been harming fieldwork in the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.