Now, the expected storms should be hitting the agricultural area on Wednesday, and bringing much needed relief with them.

Tomas Parenti, an agronomist with the Rosaria grains exchange said,

"There will be irreversible losses to soy planted in marginal growing areas such as western Buenos Aires province, where soils started the season with a moisture deficit.”

He continued, "Corn in the main grains belt has been hit even harder because plants were trying to flower in December and early January, at the height of the drought. So even if we get hard rains we are hoping for on Wednesday, they will not help the corn that has already been lost."

The soymeal loss is no laughing matter. Argentina is the supplier for almost half of the entire world’s soymeal, and this meal is used for feeding animals and for cooking, among other things.  South American country also offers up 12% of the soybean exports in the world, which is a vital source of protein for hungry people.

Among other items, they are discussing the bilateral trade balance, since Brazil closed their year with a surplus of $5.8 billion.

They also explained that their initial aims have already been accomplished, making it less important to pour extra money into the projects. The companies that will be hit at this point include: Panamerican Energy (PAE), YPF, Occidental-Sinopec, Pluspetrol, Total Austral, Enap Sipetrol and Pretrogras. The Refino Plus companies that will be affected include: Esso, Petrobras and YPF.

The oil industry is just one of several that are being hit by government cuts to help the economy.

As Erin FitzPatrick, an analyst at Rabobank International in London, said, “Argentina is forecast to have the most amount of rain since November in the 10- to 14-day forecast. There’s a chance for yields to stabilize. February is critical for Argentina.”

Temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius in some areas of Argentina through February 2, as reported by the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange.  And that can only bode poorly for the corn crops in Argentina, which is the second largest exporter of corn after only America.

Jorge Nahuel, a member of the Xawvnko Area Council of the Neuquen Mapuche Confederation, said, “There is no doubt that all of the official announcements about these mega-fields are a direct and clear threat to the life and culture of the affected Mapuche communities.”

Gelay Ko community members in Neuquen have demanded that the provincial government create two commissions now – one that would evaluate the social, cultural and environmental impact and one that would look at control and monitoring.

As Nahuel said, “There is no policy in place to measure the impact of this new technology. That is what the communities are reacting to, in Loma de la Lata and in the central part of the province.”

The issue is now going to the local courts – and time will tell what it means for corporations trying to explore for natural gas.

As he continued,

“These are common negotiation, part of every year’s discussions. This is part of the rules of the games and I think it is logical that it happens. There were no official voices mentioning the 18 percent salary ceiling. I haven’t heard it from anyone, and the only people with the authority to speak on the subject are the President and the Labour Minister. That somebody might say something off the record is entirely another issue.”

Plaini said that there is no rift between the Government and the Central Labour Union and that “the current economic model has to be deepened. I think this is a great instance to work over several issues, but we can’t only consider wage talks.”

City Judge Fernando Juan Lima just rejected their plea. These organizations have set up a heated protest schedule. They also presented the judge with a document that had over 120,000 signatures rejecting the hike.

While judicial sources have confirmed the judge’s ruling, an official announcement has not yet been made.

This week, tensions mounted as many of the street vendors in Buenos Aires refused to leave Florida Street. No Metropolitan Police officers have been seen yet, but the City government inspectors were having a difficult time cleaning the famous pedestrian zone of these peddlers.

In recent years, many arrests have been made of street peddlers, and raids have ended in the confiscation of goods that were being sold.

The value of sales for 2011 reached approximately 156 billion pesos, according to the study.