From opium poppy to soy: two big initiatives in Coronel Bogado agriculture history

Abstract

During the 1950s, in a small town known as Coronel Bogado, located in the south of the province of Santa Fe, a series of innovative agricultural initiatives was developed. On the one hand, at the beginning of the aforementioned period, opium poppy cultivation was spread around the neighbouring areas of the village. Its importance lied in the fact that it was the lifeline of the factory located in the town itself, called Fitoquímica S.R.L, which belonged to the Souberain Chovet labs, specialized is the production of alkaloids from the poppy capsule. For a few years, this situation remained uninterrupted. Nevertheless, in the mid 1950s, the cultivation performance became poor, precluding the industry usual progress. This caused, in the company, the need to breed in other more distant regions, and even to import foreign raw materials. Now, circa 1956, when poppy cultivation was abandoned, the experimental soybean crop arrived to Coronel Bogado along with the Agricultural Engineer Ramón Agrasar, who promoted soybean growth in our country and was supported by local producers. This work is aimed to account the different agricultural processes that take place in the town, establishing relationships between the social agents, as well as the economic links that underline these relationships.