DOSSIER. EL ESTADO, PRESENTE

Aproximación a las políticas gubernamentales de desarrollo tecnológico, investigación y extensión rural en la argentina de finales del siglo XIX e inicios del XX

Abstract

Government agricultural agencies had a long history in Argentina. The National Department of Agriculture, created in 1871, was transformed into Ministry of Agriculture in 1899. At the beginnings of the 20th. Century, it had its resources greatly expanded. This evolution shows the constant impulse of governmental actions in building a suitable body of agrarian technological improvements, useful to be spreaded among a wide range of farmers through practical and simple techniques. Main purpose was, no doubt, the promotion of little and medium scale farmers, complementing the actions of private enterprises. This also broaded old development policies, such as those which, since the 1850’s, tried to achieve a better land distribution. But the outbreak of a deep crisis in 1914, and changes of administration in 1916, plotted against the continuation of several projects, restricted funds assignment, and broke research groups. This was particularly wrong because agrarian expansion, then, was reaching the limits of best productive lands. Discontinuity, although, affected fund investment efficiency; long previous efforts lost their usefulness. This article will show preliminary results of a research on the role of several government agencies related to agrarian technological improvement during the last decades of the 19^th. Century and the first of the 20^th., aiming to evaluate their impact on the private farmer sector.