Agricultural-Pastoral Conflict: A Major Obstacle in the Process of Rural Development

Abstract

This paper posits the thesis that the age-old conflict between the agricultural and pastoral ways of life continues to be a major obstacle to agricultural and rural development throughout Latin America; and the same probably is true in many other of the so-called “underdeveloped” portions of the globe. A quarter of a century of professional involvement with Latin American societies has convinced me that improvement that is designated as “type of farming” in the sociocultural system is an indispensable part of the modernization of agriculture. I firmly believe that in most places it is of the utmost importance to combine both livestock and crop enterprises in a close symbiotic relationship in individual farm units. This definitely is not the case throughout Latin America, and this conclusion is exemplified by the fact that neither by personal observation, nor by reading, nor by questioning others have I been able to discover a single instance in which a farmer grows a crop of corn and then uses it to fatten his cattle for the market.