Animal manure is available and growers 

 apply about 3.5 tons per acre. When available, 

 more is used, with a corresponding reduction 

 in the amount of chemicals applied. 



Spraying is generally done with old, small 

 machines which involve quite a bit of labor. 

 However, the job is done effectively. Oil 

 sprays, DDT, and malathion are used and the 

 rates and times of application are modeled 

 after the spray schedules used in the United 

 States. Many growers expressed interest in 

 the new speed sprayers but import restric- 

 tions and the close spacing of trees in older 

 orchards precludes their use at present. 



Cultural costs . --The Rio Negro Valley was 

 the only area in which it was possible to ob- 

 tain detailed cultural costs. Because of the 

 relatively small plantations and the concentra- 

 tion on apples and pears in the area individual 

 cost items were obtained. Items shown in 

 table 10 are averages and represent a rela- 

 tively narrow range of costs. Actual costs of 

 materials and labor, and average rates of 

 application per acre were used. To determine 

 per box costs, average yields from table 9 

 were applied to total per acre costs. 



TABLE 10. — ^ples and pears: Calculated cultural costs, Rio Negro Valley, 

 1958 season 



Item 



Red Delicious 

 apples 



Bartlett 

 pears 



Cost per acre; 



Fertilizer and animal manure... 



Spray materials 



Miscellaneous materials 



Taxes, licenses, etc 



Wages and salaries 



Contributions required 



Amortization 



Loading and transporting field 

 boxes to packinghouse 



Pesos 

 858.81 



1,293.79 

 212.47 

 364.23 



3,350.06 

 319.13 

 344.40 



971.28 



Dollars 



22.59 



34.04 



5.59 



9.58 



88.16 



8.40 



9.06 



25.56 



Pesos 



833.44 



1,025.27 



60.71 



364.23 

 2,431.80 



225.44 



344.40 



545.86 



Dollars 



21.93 



26.98 



1.60 



9.58 



63.99 



5.93 



9.06 



W.36 



Cost, total crop delivered 

 to packinghouse 



7,714.17 



202.98 



5,831.15 



153.45 



3ost per box 



13.10 



.34 



16.66 



.44 



Packing costs . --Packing costs are fairly 

 well standardized throughout the valley, as 

 materials do not vary much in price and labor 

 rates are set by agreement and thus are the 

 same basic rates to all packers. Because of 

 this situation, it was possible to outline cost 

 figures from packers' records. 



Packing sheds are spotted throughout the 

 valley, with very few of them on rail sidings. 

 Argentine Fruit Distributors Company oper- 

 ates six plants, including the largest in the 

 valley, which is at Cipolletti, and has six 

 grading and packing lines. Most other plants 

 in the valley are cooperatives and generally 

 have one to three packing lines. AFD was 

 originally organized as a company by the rail- 

 road and consequently all of its plants have 

 rail sidings. Only a very few of the others 

 have them, and packed fruit must be trucked to 

 railheads for loading on cars. 



After packing, fruit is loaded on ventilated 

 rail cars--no refrigerated cars are avail- 

 able--and shipped to Buenos Aires, where it 



goes into cold storage. A small annount of 

 fruit is stored in Rio Negro but space is very 

 limited there, totaling about 500, 000 boxes. 

 Fruit stored locally must, of necessity, re- 

 main in storage until cold winter weather has 

 set in before being moved to port. Since no 

 refrigerated cars are available, stored fruit 

 cannot be moved during warm weather. 



Boxes and shook . --There are 44 sawmills 

 in the Rio Negro Valley primarily engaged in 

 making shook for apple and pear boxes fronn 

 poplar logs, which are selectively cut fronn 

 windbreaks. Historically, these sawmills have 

 provided about 60 percent of the boxes used in 

 the valley; the rest comes chiefly from the 

 Delta region. 



In view of the increase in fruit production 

 which is taking place in the valley- -and the in- 

 crease in box requirements--many growers 

 are now planting windbreaks three or four 

 rows thick instead of two. Also, several large 

 poplar plantations have been established on 

 land which is not used for fruit. At present, 

 and until these plantations come into produc- 

 tion in about 5 years, the shook manufactured 

 in the valley comes entirely from windbreaks. 

 These trees reach marketable size at about 12 

 years of age and at that time are sold to a saw- 

 mill operator for 300-400 pesos ($7. 90-10. 50) 

 per metric ton on the stump. 



Box production in the valley now totals about 

 9 million boxes per year. Yield from the pop- 

 lar logs is about 70 boxes per ton of wood. In 

 about 5 years it is expected that approximately 

 250, 000 tons of wood will be produced per year, 

 or, internnsof boxes, more than 17 million per 

 year. Some operators, however, estimate that 

 with the expected expansion in fruit production 

 during this period, valley-produced boxes will 

 still provide only about 85 percent of require- 

 ments . 



The shook produced from this wood is of 

 good appearance and is smooth planed, so that 

 the finished boxes have a clean attractive ap- 

 pearance. 



Delivered costs . --From a summary of trans- 

 portation, taxes, and miscellaneous handling 

 costs, it develops that apples and pears can be 

 produced and packed for an approximate f. o. b. 

 cost per box of $ 1.09 and $ 1.16, respectively. 

 Movennent and handling to Buenos Aires adds 

 an additional $0.79 and $0.80. If stored 30 

 days in Buenos Aires before export, which 

 would be about average or below, the cost 

 aboard ship is about $1. 88 for apples and 

 $1.96 for pears. Ocean freight rates (listed 

 in table 6) may be added to determine costs 

 on a c.i.f. basis in worldmarkets. These figures 

 all represent simple cost totals at a break- 

 even level and do not reflect any profits or 

 margins. 



Mendoza Province 



The Province of Mendoza lies north of the 

 Rio Negro and thus is warmer and better suited 



8 



