The Agricultural Industry of Argentina

Tom Loynachan

January 28, 2009

Outline

• Location

• Natural resources

• Climate

• Soils

• Crops

• Livestock

• Summary

Argentina ca. 3/10th size of US; size of US east of Mississippi River

Most of South America lies east of the USA.

Buenos Aires 2 hours ahead of Washington, DC (Standard Time)

N-S length = 2,270 milesE-W wide = 890 miles

Buenos Aires = 34.2 S

Oklahoma City = 35.5 N

Ames = 42.0 N

Buenos Aires = 58.2 W

Ames = 93.6 W

Miami = 80.2 W

Latitude

Longitude

Total Land Area

• 274 million ha– 142 permanent pasture– 27 under arable crops– 1 permanent crops (such as critus)

– 1.6 irrigated2nd largest country in South America (after Brazil); 8th largest country in the world.

Natural Resources of Argentina

• Fertile plains of the Pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore, manganese, petroleum, uranium.

Three Large Regions

• Humid: 68 million ha (25%)

• Semi-arid: 48 million ha (15%), irrigation is often necessary

• Arid: 170 million ha (60%), little agricultural activity

Pampas

• Grass-covered plains (Pampas comes from an Indian word for level plain)

• Pampas includes the three most important provinces of the country, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, and Santa Fe. The annual rainfall varies from 800 mm in the west to 1000 mm in the east (Ames 815 mm).

Iowa ave. rainfall 26-34

Annual Mean Temp7065605550454035302520

Iowa annual mean temperature 46 N, 52 S

Much of Argentina is remarkably flat, about2/3th of the land mass is less than 500 m above sea level.

Argentina Soils

• Soil formation is influence by:– Parent material– Climate– Topography– Biological activity– Time

8 soil orders: Mollisols,Entisols, Aridisols, and Alfisols makes up 80%

Mollisols = 871,569 km2:(31%)

Agriculture in Argentina

• Soybeans • Wheat • Corn• Sunflower• Oats• Cotton• Sorghum• Rye• Sugar cane• Grapes• Mate• Citrus (esp. lemons)• Tobacco• Peanuts• Rice• Livestock

Overview

• An estimated 27,200,000 hectares (67,200,000 acres) of arable and permanent cropland (#12 world-wide) (10% of country) (Iowa 14.6M ha)

• Agriculture and animal husbandry have traditionally supplied the nation with 70–95% of its export earnings

Agriculture in Argentina

• Second largest world exporter of maize

• Third largest world exporter of soybeans (have increased almost three-fold since 1990)

• Third largest world exporter of beef

• Fourth largest world exporter of wheat

Land Area In (2004):

• Soybean - #3 (14,000,000 ha) (35M acres)

• Wheat - #10 (5,700,000 ha)

• Corn - #10 (2,300,000 ha)

• Sunflower - #4 (1,830,000 ha)

• Cotton - #14 (250,000 ha)

• Peanut - #16 (170,000 ha)1 ha = 2.47 acres

Yields (2004)

• Corn 6.52 MT/ha (US 8.93)*

• Cotton 449 kg/ha (US 818)

• Peanut 2.51 MT/ha (US 3.54)

• Soybean 2.36 MT/ha (US 2.28)*

• Sunflower 1.77 MT/ha (US 1.36)

• Wheat (2.46 MT/ha) (US 2.97) *1 MT/ha = 15.93 bu/ac corn

= 14.87 bu/ac soybean

Fruit Production

• Apples• Oranges• Lemons and limes• Peaches and nectarines• Grapefruit• Bananas• Grapes (1999 = 4.5% of world’s total wine

production)

Yerba MateNative to subtropical South America including northern Argentina

Steep dry leaves and stems in hot water

Alkaloids similar to caffeine

Pronounced‘yerba mahtay’

Yerba Mate Soda

Approx. Livestock Numbers

• Poultry 900,000,000

• Beef 50,800,000

• Dairy 13,000,000

• Sheep 12,500,000

• Swine 6,100,000

• Goats 4,200,000

Cattle ranching has been a main economic base for the residents of the Pampas for over 200 years, the main cattle producing area.

In 2005 Argentina was the third largest exporter of beef after Brazil and Australia. Traditionally raised on grass

but going more to grainfed during last 2-3 months b/c of higher value of crops; 2008 (30%).

British breeds Herefordand Angus common; some Charolais.

Holstein are the common dairy animals.

Asado is a technique for cooking cuts of meat, usually consisting of beef alongside various other meats, which are cooked on a grill or open fire.

Cattle Production

Province % of share

Buenos Aires 37

Cordoba 15

Santa Fe 11

Corrientes 8

Entre Rios 7

La Pampa 6

Exports from Argentina should be ca. 500,000 tons for 2009, the volume, however, will depend on government policy. A main market is frozen beef to the Russian Federation.

Sheep Breeds

CorriedaleMerino

Romney

Summary• Huge diversity in Argentina but our visited

location may seem somewhat similar to Iowa in landscape, soils, crops, livestock, and climate

• Major exporter of soybeans, corn, beef, and wheat

• Be sure to try the Asado

Questions?