Ministry of Agriculture (Argentina)

Ministry of Agriculture,
Livestock and Fisheries

Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca
Headquarters of the Ministry in Buenos Aires
Ministry overview
Formed	1898 (1898)
Preceding Ministry	National Department of Agriculture
Dissolved	August 2022; 2 years ago (2022-08)[1]
Jurisdiction	Government of Argentina
Headquarters	Av. Paseo Colón 922, Buenos Aires
Annual budget	$17,278,000 (2018)[2]
Minister responsible	Julián Domínguez

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (Spanish: Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca) of Argentina, commonly known simply as the Ministry of Agriculture, was a ministry of the national executive power that oversaw production, commerce and health regulations in the agricultural, livestock and fishing industries.

The Ministry of Agriculture was one of the oldest portfolios in the Argentine government, having existed – under various names and incarnations – since 1898, when it was created by President Julio Argentino Roca.

The ministry was dissolved in August 2022 through decree n° 451 by president Alberto Fernández,^[1] turning it into a secretariat under supervision of the Ministry of Economy.^[3]

History

The Ministry of Agriculture of Argentina was first established in 1898 through Law 3727 enacted by President Julio Argentino Roca following the 1898 constitutional reform; the first minister responsible was Emilio Frers, a lawyer and businessman and member of the Sociedad Rural Argentina.^[4] The government's agricultural policies had previously been co-ordinated by the National Department of Agriculture, a subdivision of the Ministry of the Interior established by President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento in 1871.^[5] The Ministry of Agriculture maintained its ministerial status and autonomy until 1958, when it was reorganized into the Secretariat of Agriculture and Livestock within the Ministry of Economy by President Arturo Frondizi.^[6]

The portfolio briefly regained ministerial status during the de facto administrations of presidents Alejandro Lanusse (1972–1973) and Roberto Viola (1981), otherwise remaining a subdivision of the Ministry of Economy (with the exception of the 2002–2003 presidency of Eduardo Duhalde, during which it was a secretariat of the Ministry of Production).^[7][8]

In 2009 the secretariat was once again elevated to ministerial level and was given the responsibilities of the fisheries secretariat by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, under the name of Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food; its first minister was Julián Domínguez.^[9] The Ministry retained its name and responsibilities during the remainder of Fernández de Kirchner's presidency, until it was renamed as Ministry of Agroindustry during the presidency of Mauricio Macri (2015–2019), with Ricardo Buryaile as minister.^[10]

On 5 September 2018 the ministry was briefly reorganized as a secretariat of the Ministry of Production once again as part of a large-scale cabinet reshuffle which reduced the number of ministries from 22 to 11.^[11][12] The ministry quickly regained its status on 2 August 2019, when it was given its current name of Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.^[13][14]

Attributions

The attributions and responsibilities of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries are specified in Article 20 of the current Law of Ministries (Ley de Ministerios), published in 2019.^[14] According to this law, the Ministry is in charge of intervening in the establishment of tariffs and export and tariff refunds in the areas within its jurisdiction; defining the national state's commerce policy on agriculture, livestock and fisheries; promoting, organizing and participating in agriculture-related exhibits, fairs, contests and missions abroad; among many other responsibilities.

The issue of internal tariffs on agricultural exports has long been a contested issue between the Argentine government and the Argentine agricultural industry.^[15] The 2008 farm crisis, triggered by the Fernández de Kirchner administration's decision to impose a 44% tax on soybean exports resulted in farmers' strikes, mass protests and roadblocks.^[16] Agricultural exports constituted over half of Argentina's exports in 2019.^[17]

Structure and dependencies

The Ministry of Agriculture counted with a number of centralized and decentralized dependencies. The centralized dependencies, as in other government ministers, are known as secretariats (secretarías) and undersecretariats (subsecretarías); there are currently three of these:^[18]

• Secretariat of Food and Bioeconomy (Secretaría de Alimentos y Bioeconomía)
• Secretariat of Family Agriculture, Co-ordination and Territorial Development (Secretaría de Agricultura Familiar, Coordinación y Desarrollo Territorial)
• Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca)
• Undersecretariat of Agricultural Markets (Subsecretaría de Mercados Agropecuarios)
• Undersecretariat of Administrative Management (Subsecretaría de Gestión Administrativa)
• Direction of Press and Communication (Dirección de Prensa y Comunicación)

Additionally, the ministry has with several decentralized dependencies, which are financially autonomous. These include the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), the National Food Safety and Quality Service (SENASA), the National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP), the National Vitiviniculture Institute (INV), the National Seeds Institute (INASE), the National Yerba Mate Institute, and Innovaciones Tecnológicas Agopecuarias S.A. (INTEA).^[18][19][20]

Headquarters

Facade of the first building in 1919.

The Ministry of Agriculture has been headquartered at Av. Paseo Colón 922, in the Buenos Aires barrio of San Telmo, since 1919. The original design, drafted in 1911, is an eclectic building with Tudor, Gothic Revival and Beaux-Arts influences, representing the various currents and the architectural eclecticism popular in late 19th and early 20th century Buenos Aires.^[21] The complex consists of two twin buildings, the older of which houses the Agriculture Ministry, while the newest (inaugurated in 1931) originally served as the headquarters of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales, and later became the offices of the Dirección de Meteorología Nacional (now the Servicio Meteorológico Nacional).^[22] The overall work was designed by the Kimbau y Cía and the Andrés Vanelli e Hijos architectural studios.^[23]

Both buildings were renovated in 2010 by order of Minister Julián Domínguez; restoration works included various decor and the original lamps and chandeliers, as well as upgrading the air conditioning and computing networks.^[21][23]

List of ministers

No.	Minister	Party		Term	President
Ministry of Agriculture (1898–1958)
1	Emilio Frers		National Civic Union	12 October 1898 – 1 September 1899		Julio Argentino Roca
2	Emilio Civit		National Autonomist Party	1 September 1899 – 11 January 1900
3	Martín García Mérou		National Autonomist Party	11 January 1900 – 21 March 1901
4	Ezequiel Ramos Mexía		National Autonomist Party	21 March 1901 – 18 July 1901
5	Wenceslao Escalante		National Autonomist Party	18 July 1901 – 12 October 1904
6	Damián Torino		National Civic Union	12 October 1904 – 12 March 1906		Manuel Quintana
7	Ezequiel Ramos Mexía		National Autonomist Party	12 March 1906 – 4 November 1907		José Figueroa Alcorta
8	Pedro Ezcurra		National Autonomist Party	5 November 1907 – 12 October 1910
9	Eleodoro Lobos		National Autonomist Party	12 October 1910 – 21 December 1911		Roque Sáenz Peña
10	Adolfo Mugica		National Autonomist Party	21 December 1911 – 16 February 1914
11	Horacio Calderón		National Autonomist Party	16 February 1914 – 12 October 1916
						Victorino de la Plaza
12	Honorio Pueyrredón		Radical Civic Union	12 October 1916 – 13 September 1917		Hipólito Yrigoyen
13	Alfredo Demarchi		Radical Civic Union	13 September 1917 – 6 March 1922
14	Eudoro Vargas Gómez		Radical Civic Union	6 March 1922 – 9 August 1922
15	Carlos J. Rodríguez		Radical Civic Union	9 August 1922 – 12 October 1922
16	Tomás Le Breton		Radical Civic Union	12 October 1922 – 1 September 1925		Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear
17	Emilio Mihura		Radical Civic Union	1 September 1925 – 12 October 1928
18	Juan Bautista Fleitas		Radical Civic Union	12 October 1928 – 6 September 1930		Hipólito Yrigoyen
19	Horacio Beccar Varela		Independent	6 September 1930 – 15 April 1931		José Félix Uriburu
20	David Arias		National Democratic Party	16 April 1931 – 20 February 1932
21	Antonio de Tomaso		Socialist Party	20 February 1932 – 3 August 1933		Agustín Pedro Justo
22	Luis Duhau		National Democratic Party	24 August 1933 – 13 August 1935
23	Miguel Ángel Cárcano		Radical Civic Union	4 January 1936 – 20 February 1938
24	José Padilla		National Democratic Party	20 February 1938 – 8 March 1940		Roberto Marcelino Ortiz
25	Cosme Massini Ezcurra		Independent	8 March 1940 – 2 September 1940
26	Daniel Amadeo y Videla		National Democratic Party	2 September 1940 – 4 June 1943
						Ramón S. Castillo
27	Diego I. Mason		Independent (Military)	7 June 1943 – 17 January 1945		Pedro Pablo Ramírez
						Edelmiro Julián Farrell
28	Amaro Ávalos		Independent (Military)	17 January 1945 – 20 October 1945
29	Francisco Pedro Marotta		Independent	20 October 1945 – 4 June 1946
30	Juan Carlos Picazo Elordy		Peronist Party	4 June 1946 – 19 August 1947		Juan Domingo Perón
31	Carlos Alberto Emery		Peronist Party	19 August 1947 – 4 June 1952
32	Carlos A. Hogan		Peronist Party	4 June 1952 – 29 June 1955
33	José María Castiglione		Peronist Party	30 June 1955 – 21 September 1955
34	Alberto Mercier		Independent	23 September 1955 – 1 May 1958		Eduardo Lonardi
						Pedro Eugenio Aramburu
Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (1972–1973; 1981)
35	Ernesto Jorge Lanusse		Radical Civic Union	9 March 1972 – 25 May 1973		Alejandro Lanusse
36	Jorge Aguado		Independent	29 March 1981 – 12 December 1981		Roberto Viola
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food (2009–2015)
37	Julián Domínguez		Justicialist Party	1 October 2009 – 10 December 2011		Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
38	Norberto Yauhar		Justicialist Party	10 December 2011 – 20 November 2013
39	Carlos Casamiquela		Independent	20 November 2013 – 10 December 2015
Ministry of Agroindustry (2015–2018)
40	Ricardo Buryaile		Radical Civic Union	10 December 2015 – 21 November 2017		Mauricio Macri
41	Luis Miguel Etchevehere		Independent	21 November 2017 – 5 September 2018
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (2019–2023)
41	Luis Miguel Etchevehere		Independent	2 August 2019 – 10 December 2019		Mauricio Macri
42	Luis Basterra		Justicialist Party	10 December 2019 – 20 September 2021		Alberto Fernández
43	Julián Domínguez		Justicialist Party	20 September 2021 – August 2022

References

1. LEY DE MINISTERIOS - Decreto 451/2022, published on 3 Aug 2022. Argentina.gob.ar
2. "¿Qué hace el Presupuesto por vos?". Ministerio de Hacienda (in Spanish). 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
3. MINISTERIO DE ECONOMÍA SECRETARÍA DE AGRICULTURA, GANADERÍA Y PESCA. Resolución 438/2023, 21 Nov 2023 on Boletín Oficial
4. "Historia del Ministerio". magyp.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 December 2019.
5. "120 Años de Agroindustria 1898–2018". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). 12 October 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
6. "LEY ORGÁNICA DE LOS MINISTERIOS (1958)". infoleg.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 December 2019.
7. "Administración Pública Nacional: Ministerio de Economía: Su estructura organizativa a lo largo de la historia". infoleg.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
8. "LEY DE MINISTERIOS". infoleg.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 December 2019.
9. Obarrio, Mariano (1 October 2009). "Se creó el Ministerio de Agricultura". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
10. "Quién es Ricardo Buryaile, el nuevo encargado de Agricultura". El Cronista. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
11. Rosemberg, Jaime (3 September 2018). "Reducen de 22 a 11 los ministerios, pero no hay cambios de nombre". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
12. "Número 34.368" (PDF). Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina (in Spanish). 5 September 2018. p. 3. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
13. López, Paula (2 August 2019). "El gobierno oficializó la creación del Ministerio de Agricultura". El Cronista (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
14. "Decreto 532/2019". Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina (in Spanish). 1 August 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
15. Lopez Arriazu, Marcos (9 March 2020). "¿Paro político o económico? Claves para entender el conflicto del campo". A24 (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
16. McDonnell, Patrick J. (19 July 2008). "Argentina ends grain tax hike". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 19 July 2008.
17. "Argentine Foreign Trade Statistics" (PDF). INDEC. February 2020. p. 12. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
18. "Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
19. "Resolución N° 042/2005". infoleg.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
20. "¿Quienes somos?". intea.com.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
21. "Un edificio con carácter e historia". agroindustria.gob.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
22. "Barrio de San Telmo". Observatorio Turístico de Argentina. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
23. "Ministerio Agricultura Ganadería y Pesca de la Nación". laxton.com.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.

External links

• Official website (archived)