Human history is experiencing a frenetic mutation, the world has become more dangerous and at the same time it is full of doors that can open for success.
Argentina, secluded in the south of the American continent, is far from bloody conflicts and the dangerous reconfiguration of the global power system. Perhaps, the main danger to which we are exposed is that of droughts derived from climate change. We just experienced one of those events.
But we are also opening one of the main doors to success: the bioeconomy, one of the cornerstones of transformation.
Without the State, and to a large extent in spite of the State, the bioeconomy sector deployed development policies through private institutions, with organizations such as Aapresid, CREA, PACN, producer associations, such as Maizar and ACSOJA, trade and grain exchanges, and an impressive cooperation between producers, most of whom are young, that incorporate innovations in equipment, genetics, precision agriculture, circular economy, use of digital technologies and artificial intelligence. Public organizations, unfortunately weakened, such as INTA and Senasa, contribute.
The key to cooperation between entrepreneurs in the bioeconomy is that they do not compete with each other, but instead receive extraordinary competitive pressure from the international market. Still, withholdings, multiplicity of exchange rates, export restrictions, tax excesses, and public investment deficits conspire with what could be explosive growth.
To appreciate the dynamics of change, an anecdote may be useful: at the last Congress of Maizar, the organization that brings together the corn chain, Pedro Vigneau, its former president and current collaborator of Fernando Vilella, the Secretary of the Bioeconomy, showed up in an elegant blue suit bought in the United States.
The fabric of the suit was made with fermented sugars derived from corn. While Argentina exports commodities, in the United States or Brazil, a large part of agricultural production is converted into cattle feed, oil, fuel or starch. And also in toothpaste, paper, cosmetics, fabrics and as an ingredient in thousands of other products.
To advance in the production of these thousands of products is to integrate the industry into the value chain of the bioeconomy. The path behind the half-open door.
The path of the bioeconomy is also the path to solving one of the dangers that affects a part of humanity: uncertainty about food security.
With withholdings, a multitude of exchange rates and an extraordinary fiscal pressure, the path could seem tortuous, because in Argentina we are not aware of the enviable underground aquifers we have. And that, while there are countries that desalinify seawater for cultivation and food, we salinify entire rivers by diverting fresh water to the ocean.
The interesting thing is that countries concerned about their food security offer billions of dollars to Argentina if the country is willing to move forward with massive irrigation projects to expand the agricultural frontier.
That frontier could be expanded by more than 20%, an additional seven or eight million hectares for production and, in the process, mitigate the effects of climate change: no more droughts, no more irrigation.
That means, in addition to agricultural production, more production of steel pipes that are made in the country, of Argentine agricultural machinery and of all the biotechnology and information technology solutions that are already in action with Argentine labor.
To the extent that primary production advances in the value-added chain, products that are still manufactured with petroleum derivatives will be replaced. With the production of bio materials, the door will be opened. That means more opportunities for full employment at high wages. A challenge for Conicet and for the rest of the scientific and technological system.
And, a not insignificant issue: the bioeconomy means the decentralization of the AMBA in favor of many agro-industrial productive poles throughout the country: true federalism.
There are a couple of conditions, the first is the training of the workforce. The doors to the success of the current frenzied mutation of history are passed through with politeness.
The other condition is to ensure freedom of trade, regulatory stability, no export taxes, and avoiding exchange rate lagging. The necessary agreement is not that of a circumstantial government, it must encompass the consensus of all the relevant political forces, because a package of mega irrigation projects involves long-term investments.
And a not insignificant issue, the focus on the adjustment of public expenditures and the urgencies of macroeconomic balance should not divert our political leaders from understanding the historical context we face. The urgent should not divert attention from what is important: education, science and technology, and development management.
Luis Rappoport and Lisandro Bril are economists.