The The development of livestock and agriculture in Entre Ríos at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century

Abstract

In this article we aim to identify the characteristics of livestock and agricultural development in the last decades of the nineteenth century and the first three decades of the twentieth century in the province of Entre Ríos, seeking to visualise the structural factors that conditioned this development. The three questions that guide the work are: What was the main source of wealth in the province during the period? Was the subsistence of the saladeros a factor that limited the development of livestock? What were the characteristics of agricultural development in the province? The paper is divided into three parts. The first section focuses on whether livestock farming was the main source of wealth in the province until the crisis of the 1930s. The second section deals with whether the sustained demand for Criollo cattle by the saladeros allowed the province to maintain its traditional production structures centred on extensive livestock farming, without the need for investment and innovation. The third part explores whether the colonies were the driving force behind agricultural expansion in the province from 1880 to the 1920s.