Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
has skyrocketed, making it more lucrative to grow the legume than dedicate space
to cattle. A severe drought in recent years dealt another blow to the beef industry -
there just wasn't enough grass to feed the herds.
But perhaps the biggest factor detrimental to the grass-fed cattle has been gov-
ernment subsidies for feedlot development, with the intention of producing beef
more quickly than before. It's less profitable to raise a fully grass-fed cow - which
takes much longer to reach maturity - than a grain-fed one. And the Argentine
government also passed legislation keeping beef prices artificially low within its
borders, while at the same time using taxes to discourage cattle ranchers from
making profits by exporting beef. So even more ranchers have turned pastureland
into soy or corn rows to stay alive.
At this rate, practically all Argentine cattle will soon live out their last few months
in dirt-floor corrals, with their movements restricted, eating an un-cowlike diet of
grains. They'll be shot full of immunizations and antibiotics, which are crucial to
treating ailments brought on by these unnatural conditions. Their beef will be
slightly less flavorful and nutritious, yet more tender - due to the lower percentage
of muscle, plus higher fat. And the modern world of commercial beef production
will finally have caught up to Argentina, wiping away a part of its history, reputa-
tion...and perhaps some of that famous Argentine pride.
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La Plata
0221 / POP 654,000
Just over an hour from Buenos Aires, this bustling university town has the same belle
époque architecture, gracious municipal buildings, leafy parks and nightlife as BA, but
on a smaller scale. The big tourist draws are its natural history museum, one of Argen-
tina's best, and the imposing neo-Gothic cathedral.
When Buenos Aires became Argentina's new capital, Governor Dardo Rocha founded
La Plata in 1882 to give the province of Buenos Aires its own top city. Rocha chose en-
gineer Pedro Benoit's elaborate city plan, based upon balance and logic, with diagonal
avenues crossing the regular 5km-square grid pattern to connect the major plazas, creat-
ing a distinctive star design. Elegant on paper, this blueprint creates confusion at many
intersections, with up to eight streets going off in all directions. However, it probably
made La Plata South America's first completely planned city.
