Argentina has entered a new era for industry and, from the start of his presidency, Mauricio Macri made clear that the agricultural industry should be at the forefront; transforming the country from the bread basket into the supermarket of the world. The new government’s support for Argentina’s agricultural sector was highlighted further by announcing its intentions to grow the industry by a further 60% by the end of Macri’s four-year term. Undoubtedly a large part of this growth will be attainable with an increase in hectares farmed, considering almost 1.5 million square kilometres (km²) of the country’s 2.8 million km² land mass is arable land. Furthermore, the removal of wheat and corn export taxes in December 2015 has served to incentivise farmers to increase their variety of produce beyond the infamous soybean.

2015 was a difficult year for the agrochemical and fertilizer industry as Argentine farmers reduced their spending on both the quantity and quality of their crop protection and fertilization products in an attempt to curb their outgoings. Nevertheless, the industry is now uniting to promote Best Agricultural Practices; associations such as Aapresid are deploying agronomists to work closely with farmers to ensure sustainable crop protection methods, building positive expectations along the value chain. As the non-profit organisation CropLife Latin America, and the chambers CASAFE and CIAFA outline in our report, a mixture of crop protection products and biotechnology will play a key role to ensure sustainable and productive growth.