Uruguay presents a mildly rolling surface with a relatively small extension of flat and hilly lands. As to the medium height with respect to sea level, it does not reach 140 meters, which makes it comparable to regions such as Belgium, the Argentine Pampa and Denmark.
The Uruguayan ecosystem is mainly composed of smooth rolling hills covered with natural pastures and without important geographical irregularities. Most of the national territory is used for arable crop and sheep and beef farming, the number of hectares exceeding 15 million.
Agriculture at present accounts for 8.3% of the economy measured through the Gross Domestic Product and occupies 147,000 workers. The official number of farms was as to 1990, 60,000; unofficial numbers for 1999 show 50,000 farms. Over 65% of Uruguayan exports are produced by this sector.
Farming involves different activities, which as a whole exported in 1997 products in the value of 1,785 million dollars. This represented 65% of the Uruguayan exports during the present year. Beef and sheep production took place in 14.3 million hectares, and generated in 1997, exports in the amount of 1.141 million dollars. Arable crop production took place in 650,000 hectares generating exports in the value of 417 million dollars. Fruit production was developed in 33,000 hectares and exported products in the value of 59 million dollars, while horticultural production developed in approximately 9,000 hectares, its volumes and values of exports being incipient. Forestry developed in 322,000 hectares generating exports in the value of 78 million dollars, and continuously expanding. The fishing industry exported 92 million dollars
Beef farming in Uruguay is carried on jointly with sheep farming in most of the territory (14.3 million hectares; 91% of the territory) with a total herd of 9 to 11.5 million head. In 2000 the stock was 10.3 million head.
The main cattle breeds are European, with a 70% of the stock of British breeds (mostly Hereford, and Aberdeen Angus) and the rest being continental breeds (Holstein and Normandy) and crossbred animals
The farming system is based on the pasture feeding provided by the natural prairies, complemented by sown prairies or natural prairies with sown leguminous (13.8% of the total area has some sort of improved sown grasses). Traditionally it is exceptional to use grain for beef production. This has determined relatively long production cycles, which were reflected in a slaughtering rate of 15% to 20%. Now this is changing because the strategic use of grains for cattle feeding is being gradually adopted.
Beef production reaches an annual average of 440,000 tons net weight (880,000 tons liveweigth) of which 183,000 tons are for domestic consumption, and 257,000 tons are exported. These exportable volumes find limited access to the European market, and have to face the negative incidence of agricultural subsidies. The exports of the freezing plants represent approximately 20% of the Uruguayan exports.The average slaughtering for the last decade was slightly higher than 1.7 million heads, ranging as follows: 53% steers, 38% cows, and the rest calves and other categories.The average age of slaughtering of steers in the last years have diminished significantly. At present, the slaughtering of young steers (1 to 2 years old) has shown an extraordinary increase as a consequence of the adoption of new production management techniques.
The permanent export markets of the Uruguayan beef have been the European Union, Israel, Chile, Canary Islands, Hong Kong, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.A. Regarding the MERCOSUR member countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), Brazil has been for some years an important client for the Uruguayan beef, while Argentina has also been present but with a lower level of importance.
The arable crop farming in Uruguay is spread throughout 600,000 hectares located mainly in the west of the country, near the border with Argentina. The exception to this is rice, located mainly in the east and north of the country.
In the last crop seasons the main productions have been wheat (200,000 hectares), rice (200,000 hectares) and barley for beer (110,000 hectares).
WHEAT. Wheat is the traditional arable crop in Uruguay. It has always been focussed to the domestic market, and at present involves approximately 2,000 farmers.
During the last 10 years this crop has been sown in 200,000 hectares, and in the agricultural season 1997/98, in 245,000 hectares. The country production is about 450,000 tons, and for the agricultural season 1997/98 it was 500,000. Most of this production is processed in approximately 15 mills.
RICE. The Uruguayan rice is recognized worldwide for its excellent quality, due to the length of the grain called American type. This crop recently became the main arable crop of the country not only because of its economic importance but also because of the area it involves.
All rice in Uruguay is produced with flooding irrigation. Near 200,000 hectares are sown, and more than 95% of the product is exported, with a value (in the last agricultural year) of $ 250 million. The main client is Brazil, who buys 70% of the product.
Most of the 700 rice farmers have clearly entrepreneurial profile, appropriate production scale, growth capacity, and a very good vertical integration with the rice mills.
It is an arable crop where it is possible to observe a total vertical integration among farmers and the processing plants (in this case rice mills). There are 32 rice mills located all through the main production areas. The rice mills are the processing plants, which makes higher investments in first-class technology machinery, which improves the economic performance and allows to obtain a final product of very good quality. The proportions in volume of the processed exported products and the raw exported products have been traditionally 95% and 5%, fluctuating in the last years due to extraordinary high Brazilian prices. Almost all the grain that goes into the mills is paid on the basis of an agreement settled annually between the mill owners and the farmers.
BARLEY. In Uruguay, barley is sown to produce barley for beer production, and has been developed in approximately 100,000 hectares. It is a product for export (more than 93% of the total production is exported), with exports of 250,000 tons (raw barley base). The main export product is barley, and the main client Brazil. There is a strong vertical integration between the farmers and the processing plants. Based on a contract the farmer receives inputs financed by the processing plant, advisory and whole sale of his product. There are 4 malting plants with a total processing capacity of 220,000 tons per year of grain, strongly associated to the main similar enterprises of Argentina and Brazil.
SUNFLOWER. The surface sown of this arable crop has widely varied over the last 30 years. However it can be said that an average of 100,000 hectares are sown. It is an oily arable crop with its own advantages in production farm management, and strongly related to the arable rotations in Uruguay. The sunflower which is sown at its correct time is called "cultivo de primavera". But one of its great virtues is the possibility to sow it after a winter crop, with minimum tillage or direct sowing. This is known as "second place crop". In the last agricultural seasons the areas of both ways of farming this crop have been very similar. During the last years, the performance of this production has improved remarkably, as well as the exported volumes and the proportion exported of the total production. Of a production of 180,000 tons, 60% is exported. Mexico and Europe are the main clients