November 4, 2009

 

Argentina House panel to debate law limiting seed pools

 

 

Argentina's House of Representatives Agricultural Commission on Tuesday (November 3) will take up debate of a controversial sharecropping bill that has the potential to greatly limit the large seed pools that dominate farming in the South American agricultural powerhouse.

 

The bill was sent to the House in August by President Cristina Fernandez, but has stalled since then. If passed, the law would sharply limit the amount of land each company can rent and cultivate.

 

Critics charge that the bill is a cynical move to divide the combative farm sector, while supporters call it a long overdue attempt to stem the concentration of farming and an over-reliance on soy, which dominate sharecropper production.

 

Modifications are likely but, as it stands now, the bill would limit each company to renting 10 economic units, which vary in size by province. In Entre Rios province, for example, an economic unit consists of 300 hectares, so a maximum under the bill would be 3000 hectares.

 

At present, many of the sharecroppers cultivate 30,000 hectares per season, with the largest putting seed to as much as 100,000 hectares.

 

Sharecropping has surged over the past decade, with many landowners entering contracts with the companies each season for a share of the crop, sitting back and collecting a check at the end of the harvest. An estimated 60 percent of all farmland is cultivated under the scheme each season.

 

The practice has also spurred a shift to soy monoculture and a failure to rotate crops - in order to maintain soil health - because of the short-term interests of the companies, supporters of the bill charge.

 

To address these concerns, the bill would extend the term of the sharecropping agreements to five years, with a mandatory rotation of wheat or corn during the period.

 

The sharecroppers will also have "to follow rules of good cultivation and agricultural technique, practicing sustainable agriculture and preserving biological diversity," the bill reads.

 

For years, the Argentine Agrarian Federation, or FAA, which represents small-scale farmers, had been pushing for a sharecropping bill while other farm groups have strongly opposed it. However, after two years of bitter strife with the government, the FAA seem unlikely to back anything proposed by the president.

 

Argentina's four leading farm groups have joined in a common front against the government since 2007, when they united to fight grain export taxes and other government policies they charge are crippling the sector and stunting production.