As a kid, fifth-generation Argentine cattleman Mario Caceres often dressed up in a beret, bandanna and baggy pants called chiripas to emulate his country's gauchos, the nomadic cowboys who once ruled the Pampas and who still symbolize rugged independence, chivalry and expert horsemanship.From 1,600 cows to 130, that's a pretty big change. Of course, farmers in the corn belt learned long ago that it was a lot easier growing crops than raising livestock. I'm kind of like him in that I have cattle for sentimental reasons, but 8 is a lot less than 130.
His head full of the romantic tradition of the gaucho, glorified in songs and the epic poem "El Gaucho Martin Fierro," Caceres built a successful ranching business that once totaled 1,600 head of Angus, one of the breeds that made the name "Argentina" synonymous with beef.
"Cattle was never a business to me but a way of being, a philosophy," Caceres, 45, said one morning last month as he greeted a visitor at his ranch 150 miles west of Buenos Aires. "Cattle give you open skies, freedom and nature, and teach you the virtue of patience because the results come slowly. That's something very beautiful."
But Caceres is slowly bidding adios to gaucho ways, swapping his livestock for something safer, faster and vastly more profitable: soybean crops.
The economic reality of the global commodities boom has trumped starry-eyed dreams of a storied past for Caceres and hundreds of other Argentine ranchers. Turns out the same soil and climate conditions that make Argentina ideal for cattle also make it primo soybean terrain. Add in a tripling of global soy prices over the last decade, pushed up by the biofuels market and food demand from Asia, and you have a massive migration to soy around these parts.
Over the last four years, Caceres has converted half of his ranchland to soy fields while reducing his livestock to just 130 head, which he says he keeps for mainly sentimental reasons. The horse and lasso he once used have been swapped for an all-terrain vehicle, which is perfectly suitable for monitoring his inanimate soy crops.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
From Cattle To Soybeans In The Pampas
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Yesterday, I drove a friend from Finland out into the Minnesota corn belt to show him where I had grown up. Outside of a few folks harvesting sweet corn for Del Monte, we saw almost no human activity. The crops are very late--I have never seen it so green in the second week of August--and the rains that delayed planting also left stunted plants where the water collected.
ReplyDeleteEven so, there is a bumper harvest to be had if the frosts hold off this fall and the co-op in Sleepy Eye was offering $7.02 for corn.
Our corn is also very late, some was just pollinating 10 days ago. We could stand a little rain right now. There's going to be some good fields and some bad fields here, but I think we'll be in pretty good shape.
ReplyDeleteThe prices are stunning, though. Never thought I'd see prices like that for such a long time.