Farm Policies Create Domestic Opportunities

Avatar for Posted by |28 July 2011

Argentina grows five times as much soy as it did 20 years ago, helping to fuel one of the fastest-growing economies in the Americas and one of the biggest growth markets for crop inputs.. Agricultural economist Manuel Alvarado Ledesma says, farmers need to increase corn and wheat plantings to make sure soils are not depleted by growing too much soy.

“The problem is that it’s not very profitable to grow corn or wheat due to state intervention in the form of export quotas,” Ledesma said. “Due to the political environment, farmers are not as motivated to invest as they otherwise would be.”

Despite export limits, farmers desire to plant more soybeans, combined with recent droughts that decimated grain reserves, result in heightened area planted for all staple crops and a growing value for crop protection throughout the Southern Cone Region.

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