Development, characteristics, and trends for beef cattle production in Argentina

Abstract

Raising cattle for beef is related to the cultural, social, and economic history of Argentina. Early grazing practices were conducted by indigenous groups. European cattle and sheep were fi rst introduced and released in the Pampeana region by the Spanish colonizer Juan de Garay in the 16th century. After cattle were introduced, they reproduced there and spread freely. At that time, leather, rather than beef, added value to cattle, increasing demand and establishing a particular, although not necessarily friendly, commercial relationship among all social parties involved: natives, the legendary gaucho, and Spanish descendents. The struggle for free commerce was born, and cattle trading infl uenced the economics of the region. Although many other factors contributed, the development of the contemporary beef cattle production system in Argentina is the result of historic events. Many aspects that infl uenced livestock development in Argentina are described by Giberti (1974), who reviewed and discussed the growth of the economy, the culture, and the parallel development of Argentinean society and beef cattle production. Changes in beef production in Argentina within the last 30 years are the result of cattle competing with other agriculture commodities for land resources, severe climatic constraints, natural resource deterioration, dramatic changes in the production systems, the slow adoption of technology, changes in the interests and profi tability of producers, and the inability to generate a set of useful policies to sustain and improve productivity, as well as a healthy development of the industry. This paper describes some of the particularities of beef cattle production in Argentina, despite its diversity by region and the dynamic processes changing production conditions. In addition, valuable information has been reported by several sources, which have emphasized different aspects of the industry, and have made predictions and offered proposals to stimulate productivity and sustainability (e.g., Minon et al., 2009; Rearte, 2010). International resources were consulted when the required information was not found or when making comparisons with other countries; otherwise, Argentinean authors and domestic sources for statistics were preferred. Offi cial records for different aspects of the industry sometimes appear to disagree in absolute values, but not in trends.