Wheat. Over 24,000,000 acres are devoted to its culture. Although the soil is famed for its fertility the average yield is not very high, about 11 bushels an acre. One writer gives 23 bushels as the average in Mendoza with one property producing 50 bushels. The climate is sufficiently agreeable, but in some years the rainfall is inadequate, and occasionally a visitation of locusts seriously affects the crops, destroying those in some districts; but the regions are so extensive that all cannot be affected at the same time.
Extensive farming is beginning to give way to intensive, especially near the city of Buenos Aires, where land values are now very high. Argentine authorities state that in general a great improvement in farming methods is imperative. Hundreds of large estates are owned by Argentines, while British investments in cattle and agricultural lands probably amount to $50,000,000. Only 30 per cent of the estates are cultivated by their owners. Rentals of lease holders are usually so short and uncertain that they suffer many embarrassments and lack ambition to install desirable improvements, to plant orchards, etc.; a situation which must be remedied to attain permanent prosperity. The Argentine leaders realize that instruction is needed to show the importance of varied cultivation, of rotation in crops, of including some stock raising, and on other matters. Better credit arrangements are suggested and other benefits, one of which has been noted in connection with the countries farther north, the use of fibre plants to make their own bags, thus saving a vast outlay for the importation of such needed articles.
Linseed is an important and lucrative production although the fibre is generally burned. This might be utilized for paper, and better varieties may be introduced to advantage.
Cotton, it is thought, will soon be cultivated on a large scale. Much progress has been made in the last decade, and nearly 40,000 acres are now devoted to its culture, most of them in the Chaco, a few less than 5000 in Corrientes, Misiones, and Formosa. Regions in Salta, La Rioja, Santiago del Estero, Jujuy, Tucumán, and Catamarca are also adapted to its growth, but especially sections near the Paraná River and its tributaries, altogether nearly 350,000 square miles. Capital and labor are wanting, but as little machinery is required, less capital is needed for this industry than for most others. Most of the region is favorable for river transport. The cotton raised is of good quality, classed as Strict good, Middling, or Fully good or Middling; fine and silky, over an inch in length. Several varieties are cultivated. Land is about $20 an acre. The production in 1920-21 is expected to be 75 per cent more than in 1919-20 and nearly seven times that of four years ago. It is hoped that within a few years Argentina will provide cotton for the great manufacturing nations; also that cotton gins will be supplied, and factories for developing the by-products, oil, etc., as also for the cotton itself. Cotton gins already exist in Resistencia and several colonies, where 2000 tons have been seeded.
Sugar is an important production in the north, especially in the Province of Tucumán, which contains about 85 per cent of the 250,000 acres devoted to sugar in 1913, 9 per cent being in Jujuy. The largest amount ever produced was in 1914, about 336,000 tons. In 1913 over 3,000,000 tons of cane were ground to produce 275,000 tons of sugar, an average of 8.8 per cent, in Jujuy a trifle more. Later production fell, in 1917 to 80,000 tons, but rose in 1919 to 250,000, of which Tucumán produced 178,000 from 2,500,000 tons of cane. The average yield is under 12 tons per acre. Java cane has lately been introduced, which will undoubtedly produce more than double the cane to the acre now obtained from the native. Much more land is suited to its growth and the country might be self-sustaining in this line, as it has been one or two years and also have some to export. Of the 39 sugar mills and refineries in the country, 27 are in Tucumán, the rest in Santa Fé, Corrientes, Salta, Jujuy, Chaco, and the Capital. Two are refineries only, these in Rosario and Buenos Aires; nine refine part of their production, the rest are sugar mills only. The greatest capacity of the mills is 417,000 tons, of the refineries 150,400 tons. About 15,000 persons are employed in the industry, at some seasons over 40,000. Several foreign companies are engaged and several local, which have paid good dividends. In the entire industry about $100,000,000 is invested, of which Americans are said to have 10 per cent. The erection of two sugar beet factories is considered.
Rice culture, like that of cotton, has been developed in the last decade, as yet in few sections although most of the country north of Buenos Aires has many marshy tracts suitable to its growth. Of 25,000 acres planted in 1918-19 Tucumán had 13,000, Misiones one-fourth as much, Salta, Jujuy, and elsewhere the remainder. In Tucumán the harvest is most plentiful, about 1250 pounds to the acre. More than three times the area should be planted to supply the country, and a superfluity could be exported.
Tobacco has long been cultivated though not largely, 40,000 acres in 1895; but there was a gradual decrease until recently, when production has been augmented almost to earlier figures. Corrientes, Salta, and Misiones seem best adapted to its growth. In 1917 over 2,000,000 pounds were exported worth $500,000. A large and good use for nicotine is for pastoral and agricultural washes.
Vineyards. The climate and soil of Catamarca, Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza, and Neuquen are excellently adapted for grape culture, and many varieties flourish of native and European grapes, but the great rise of freight rates interferes with sending the fruit to the Buenos Aires market for consumption. As a pound of grapes in Buenos Aires costs 15 times as much as the fruit grower receives, the fruit has become a luxury for the rich. The making of wine is therefore the chief industry of Mendoza, where 1500 bodegas or wine cellars of varying style and capacity exist, some, models of their kind. Some 15 of these have cost about $500,000 each, but the more common type numbering 1000 have a value of $50,000-$100,000. An excellent quality of light wine is made for consumption in the country. The Province of San Juan also contains extensive vineyards and expensive bodegas. At least 3000 establishments are yearly in operation. About 1¹⁄₂ billion pounds of grapes are used to obtain 500 million litres of wine (a 68 per cent return) of which 400,000,000 come from Mendoza. A great future for the industry is expected unless prohibition becomes world wide.
Fruit of semi-tropical and temperate zones is increasingly cultivated, all varieties in the various sections, but in insufficient quantities. In Chubut apples, pears, plums, cherries, and ordinary berries of the best quality are raised; but much fruit is imported from Chile with some from Europe and the United States.