Agriculture in Chile - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

encompasses a wide range of different activities due its particular geography

Geography of Chile

Image:Chilenav.gif|thumb|417px|left|Click over the map to obtain a topographic map of the region and its toponymyrect 23 14 119 35 rect 23 35 119 44 rect 23 44 119 54 rect 23 54 119 65 rect 23 65 119 75 rect 23 75 119 85...

, climate

Climate of Chile

The climate of Chile comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a large geographic scale, extending across 38 degrees in latitude, making generalisations difficult...

and geology

Geology of Chile

The Geology of Chile is mainly a product of the Andean and preceding orogenies which are caused by the long-lived convergent boundary at South America's western coast. While in the Paleozoic and Precambrian this boundary was affected by the accretion of terranes and microcontinents it has since...

and human factors. Historically agriculture is one of the bases of Chile's economy

Economy of Chile

The economy of Chile is ranked as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank, and is one of South America's most stable and prosperous nations, leading Latin American nations in human development, competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, economic freedom, and low perception of...

, now agriculture and allied sectors like forestry

Forestry

Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...

, logging

Logging

Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...

and fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

accounts only for 4.9% of the GDP as of 2007 and employed 13.6% of the country's labor force

Labor force

In economics, a labor force or labour force is a region's combined civilian workforce, including both the employed and unemployed.Normally, the labor force of a country consists of everyone of working age In economics, a labor force or labour force is a region's combined civilian workforce,...

. Some major agriculture products of Chile includes grapes, apples, pears, onions, wheat, corn, oats, peaches, garlic, asparagus, beans, beef, poultry, wool, fish and timber. Due to its geographical isolation and strict customs

Customs

Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...

policies Chile is free from diseases such as Mad Cow

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad-cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of...

, fruit fly

Drosophilidae

Drosophilidae is a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies, which includes fruit flies. Another family of flies called Tephritidae also includes fruit flies. The best known species of Drosophilidae is Drosophila melanogaster, within the genus Drosophila, and this species Is used extensively for...

and Phylloxera

Phylloxera

Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...

, this plus being located in the southern hemisphere (having quite different harvesting times compared to the Northern Hemisphere) and its wide range of agriculture conditions are considered Chiles main comparative advantage

Comparative advantage

In economics, the law of comparative advantage says that two countries will both gain from trade if, in the absence of trade, they have different relative costs for producing the same goods...

s. However, the mountainous landscape of Chile limits the extent and intensity of agriculture so that arable land corresponds only to 2.62% of the total territory.

Chiles principal growing region

Growing region

A growing region is an area suited by climate and soil conditions to the cultivation of a certain type of crop or plant group.Most crops are cultivated not in one place only, but in several distinct regions in diverse parts of the world...

and agricultural heartland

Heartland

- Education :* Heartland Baptist Bible College, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma* Heartland Community College, in Illinois* Heartland Elementary School, public school, Kansas- Film :* Heartland , a 1979 film starring Rip Torn and Conchata Ferrell...

is the Central Valley

Chilean Central Valley

The Central Valley , Intermediate Depression or Longitudinal Valley is the depression between the Chilean Costal Range and the Andes Mountains. The central valley should not be confused with Central Chile that encompasses part of the valley...

delimited by the Chilean Coast Range

Chilean Coast Range

The Chilean Coastal Range is a mountain range that runs from north to south along the Pacific coast of South America parallel to the Andean Mountains, extending from Morro de Arica in the north to Taitao Peninsula, where it ends at the Chile Triple Junction, in the south. The range has a strong...

in the west, the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

in the east Aconcagua River

Aconcagua River

For other uses, see Aconcagua .The Aconcagua River is a river in Chile that rises from the joint of two minor tributary rivers at above sea level in the Andes, Juncal river from the east and Blanco river from the south east...

by the north and Bío-Bío River

Bío-Bío River

The Biobío River is the second largest river in Chile. It originates from Icalma and Galletué lakes in the Andes and flows 380 km to the Gulf of Arauco on the Pacific Ocean....

by the south. In the northern half of Chile cultivation is highly dependent on irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

. South of the Central Valley cultivation is gradually replaced by aquaculture

Aquaculture

Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...

, silviculture

Silviculture

Silviculture is the practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values. The name comes from the Latin silvi- + culture...

, sheep and cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

farming.

Norte Grande

The Norte Grande

Norte Grande, Chile

The Norte Grande is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It borders Peru to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Altiplano, Bolivia and Argentina to the east, and the Copiapó River to the south, beyond which lies the Norte Chico natural...

region covers most of Atacama Desert

Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...

and its crop agriculture is contracted around small oases such as Pica

Pica, Chile

Pica is a Chilean town and commune in Tamarugal Province, Tarapacá Region. Situated in the inland of the Atacama Desert on an oasis, Pica is famous for its small and unusually acidic lemons. The town has a communal spring with a surface temperature of 40 °C, which makes it a popular bath place in...

(Chilean name for Key lime

Key lime

The Key lime is a citrus species with a globose fruit, 2.5–5 cm in diameter , that is yellow when ripe but usually picked green commercially. It is smaller, seedier, has a higher acidity, a stronger aroma, and a thinner rind than that of the Persian lime...

is Limón de Pica) and Pozo Almonte

Pozo Almonte

Pozo Almonte is a city and commune of Chile located in the Tamarugal Province, I Region of Tarapacá. It is the capital of this newly created province. The city is located at from the region's capital, Iquique. It has over 10,000 inhabitants...

. The use of water from Loa River

Loa River

The Loa River is a U-shaped river in Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. At 440 km long it is the country's longest river and the main watercourse in the Atacama Desert.-Course:...

and other streams is limited due to contamination with heavy metals from the mining industry. Some minor substistence agriculture is practised in Loa River. Recently these waters are being used for growing non-edible plants such as flowers. In Norte Grande's Puna

Central Andean dry puna

The Central Andean dry puna is an ecoregion, in the Montane grasslands and shrublands biome, located in the Andean High plateau, in South America...

plateau indigenous Aymaras practise traditional llama

Llama

The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....

and alpaca

Alpaca

An alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance.Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador, and northern Chile at an altitude of to above sea level, throughout the year...

herding.http://www.tropentag.de/2004/abstracts/full/33.pdf

Norte Chico

Norte Chico, Chile

The Norte Chico is one of the five natural regions on which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. Its northern border is formed by the limit with the Far North, on west lies the Pacific Ocean, by the east the Andes mountains and Argentina, and by the south the Zona Central natural region...

has a semi-arid climate that limits agriculture to river valleys such as Choapa

Choapa River

Choapa River or El Río Choapa is a river of Chile located in the Coquimbo Region. The river rises in the Andes, at the confluence of the streams Totoral, Leiva and Del Valle. The river then flows through the town of Salamanca before it meets with its main tributary, the Illapel River...

, Copiapó

Copiapó River

Copiapó River is a river of Chile located in the Atacama Region. Starting at the confluence of the Jorquera and Pulido rivers, the Copiapó flows for only 2.5 km before receiving the waters of the Manflas River.-References:...

, Elqui

Elqui River

The Elqui River starts in the west Andes, flowing into the Pacific Ocean, crossing the Chilean city of La Serena, is a wine and pisco producing area...

, Limarí

Limarí River

Limarí River is a river of Chile located in the Coquimbo Region. The river is formed at the confluence of the Hurtado and Grande rivers, about 4 km east of the city of Ovalle. The lower course of the river borders the southern portion of Bosque de Fray Jorge National Park...

and Aconcagua

Aconcagua River

. Most agriculture here is dependent on irrigation. Norte Chico is known for its pruduction of grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

s for Pisco

Pisco

Pisco is a colorless or yellowish-to-amber colored grape brandy produced in winemaking regions of Chile and Peru. Pisco was developed by Spanish settlers in the 16th century as an alternative to orujo, a pomace brandy that was being imported from Spain...

and papayas

Mountain papaya

The mountain papaya, Vasconcellea pubescens, also known as mountain paw paw, is a species of the genus Vasconcellea, native to the Andes of northwestern South America from Colombia south to central Chile, typically growing at altitudes of m...

. Other crops cultivated include olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

s and avocado

Avocado

The avocado is a tree native to Central Mexico, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...

shttp://www.avocadosource.com/Journals/VinaDelMar1998/MagdahlChristian1998.pdf.

Zona Central

Zona Central, Chile

Zona central is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It is home to a majority of the Chilean population and includes the three largest metropolitan areas- Santiago, Valparaíso, and Concepción...

is Chile's agricultural and cultural heartland. With its mediterranean climate

Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...

Zona Central hosts the largest part of the country's wine regions. Most of Chile's premium wine regions are dependent on irrigation

Irrigation

to sustain vineyards, the necessary water formed by melting snow caps in the Andes. In the developing wine regions along the Coastal Range

Chilean Coast Range

s and in the far south, there is not a lack of needed rainfall but vineyards owners have to deal with other factors such as the Humboldt Current

Humboldt Current

The Humboldt Current , also known as the Peru Current, is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north-westward along the west coast of South America from the southern tip of Chile to northern Peru. It is an eastern boundary current flowing in the direction of the equator, and can extend...

from the Pacific which can bathe a vineyard with a blanket of cool air. For the rest of Chile's wine regions, the Coastal Ranges serve as a buffer from the current and also act as a rain shadow

Rain shadow

A rain shadow is a dry area on the lee side of a mountainous area. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems, casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them. As shown by the diagram to the right, the warm moist air is "pulled" by the prevailing winds over a mountain...

. The vineyards in these regions are planted on the valley

Valley

In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...

plains of the Andes foothills along a major river such as the Maipo

Maipo River

Maipo River is the main river flowing through Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile. Its headwaters are on the west slope of Maipo volcano, in the Andes. Its most famous tributary is Mapocho River. The Maipo River is by far the major source of irrigation and potable water for the region.-Course:In...

, Rapel

Rapel River

Rapel River is a river of Chile located in the O'Higgins Region. It begins at the confluence of the rivers Cachapoal and Tinguiririca in the area known as La Junta...

and Maule River

Maule river

The Maule river is one of the most important rivers of Chile and is inextricably linked to this country's pre-Hispanic times, the country's conquest, colonial period, wars of Independence, modern history, agriculture , culture , religion, economy and politics...

Zona Sur

Wheat cultivation, cattle

Cattle

farming, silviculture

Silviculture

Silviculture is the practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values. The name comes from the Latin silvi- + culture...

and salmon aquaculture

Aquaculture in Chile

Aquaculture is a major economical activity in Chile. Among the diverse aquacultures practised in Chile Atlantic salmon aquaculture is the overwhemingly largest sector. Until 2007 Chile experienced over 15 years a huge growth in its salmon aquaculture becoming the second largest salmon and trout...

are the main agricultural activities of Zona Sur

Zona Sur

The Zona Sur is one of the five natural regions on which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. Its northern border is formed by the Bío-Bío River, the limit with the Central Chile Zone. By west with the Pacific Ocean, by the east with the Andean mountains and Argentina. Its southern border is...

. In northern Zona Sur Araucania Region

Araucanía Region

The IX Araucanía Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south....

was known until recently as "Chile’s granary". Wheat in Araucanía continues to be the main crop; however, production of oats and lupine has increased significantly.http://www.chileangovernment.gov.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1169&Itemid=73 While the area devoted to traditional crops and natural pasture has tended to shrink in Araucanía, there has been an increase in artificial and improved pasturelands. This supports a substantial mass of livestock, including beef cattle, swine, sheep, and horses, and abundant production of milk and by-products. Salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

aquaculture

Aquaculture

is Los Lagos Region

Los Lagos Region

Los Lagos Region is one of Chile's 15 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and Palena. The region contains the country's second largest island, Chiloé, and the second largest lake, Llanquihue.Its capital is Puerto Montt;...

largest source of jobs and main export industry.http://www.chileangovernment.gov.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1169&Itemid=73 Nearly all of Chiles and much of the southern hemisphere blue berry and cranberry

Cranberry

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

productions is concetrated in Zona Sur.

Zona Austral

In Zona Austral

Zona Austral

The Zona Austral is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950 corresponding to the Chilean portion of Patagonia. It is surrounded by the Southern Zone and the Chacao Channel to the north, the Pacific Ocean and Drake's Passage to the south and west, and the...

sheepherding is a major industry since the 19th century. In Magallanes Region only, there is an estimate of 1.5 and 2 million sheep distributed among 300 farmers as of 2006. Exotic species like reindeer

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...

s have been introduced in recent years.http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0716-078X2005000100010&script=sci_arttext Agriculture in the north-western parts of Zona Austral (Aisén

Aisén Province

Aisén Province is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Aisen . Its capital is Puerto Aisén.-Demographics:The province had a 2002 population of 23,498 according to the census by the National Statistics Institute. Of these, 16,180 lived in urban areas and 13,451 in rural areas. Between...

, Chiloé

Chiloé Island

Chiloé Island , also known as Greater Island of Chiloé , is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean...

and Palena

Palena Province

Palena Province is one of the four provinces in the southern Chilean region of Los Lagos . Due to the eruption of Chaitén Volcano and the subsequent destruction of Chaitén, Futaleufú is since March 2009 the new capital of Palena Province. The private Pumalín Park is located in the province as is...

) focuses on aquaculture

Aquaculture

and silviculture

Silviculture

Silviculture is the practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values. The name comes from the Latin silvi- + culture...

and is similar to that of Zona Sur

Zona Sur

.

Evidence ranging from historical records, local agriculturalists, and DNA analyses strongly supports the hypothesis that the most widely cultivated variety of potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

worldwide, Solanum tuberosum tuberosum, is indigenous to Chiloé Island

Chiloé Island

Chiloé Island , also known as Greater Island of Chiloé , is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean...

and has been cultivated by the local indigenous people since before the coming of the Spanish.

History

Agriculture is practised in Chile since pre-Hispanic times when indigenous Mapuche

Mapuche

The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...

s, Aymaras and Atacameños raised llama

Llama

The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....

and alpaca

Alpaca

livestock and cultivated beans, maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, potato

Potato

and quinoa

Quinoa

Quinoa , a species of goosefoot , is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family...

. With the arrival of the Spaniards around 1550 European plants and animals such as grapes, wheat, horses and cattle were introduced to Chile. Due to the geographical isolation of Chile and the commerce limitations imposed by the Spanish crown few new species were introduced to colonial Chile after its conquest. Nearly all of Chile's exports and imports went by Lima

Lima

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

in Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, which was a rich colony with little need of commerce with Chile. The 17th century came to be known as the century of the fat (Siglo del sebo), because Chiles agricultural exports to Peru consisted mainly of animal fat

Animal fat

Animal fats are rendered tissue fats that can be obtained from a variety of animals.- Pet nutrition :In pet nutrition, the source of animal fat concerns food manufacturers. AAFCO states that animal fat is "obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering...

and charqui

Charqui

Charqui or charque, is a form of jerky common in South America made from dried and salted meat, originally llama where this animal roamed, nowadays mostly beef. Llama is still widely used in Bolivia. This curing was done so the meat could be stored for a long period. This was a very popular way to...

.

Since Peru's croplands were affected by an earthquake

1687 Peru earthquake

The 1687 Peru earthquake occurred at 11:30 UTC on October 20. It had an estimated magnitude of 8.4–8.7 and caused severe damage to Lima, Callao and Ica. It triggered a tsunami and overall about 5,000 people died.-Tectonic setting:...

and a plague in 1687, Chile became a major exporter of wheat, first to Peru but later in the 19th century to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The wheat cultivation increased further in the 1880s, fueled by the new arable land

Arable land

In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...

available after the occupation of Araucanía. The wheat period ended in poor conditions coupled with decades of extensive farming without crop rotation

Crop rotation

Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons.Crop rotation confers various benefits to the soil. A traditional element of crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals...

or other techniques that prevented erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

. Erosion also resulted in several rivers being unnavigable.

Sheep were introduced to the Chilean Patagonia

Patagonia

Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...

from the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

in 1865 http://itotd.com/articles/472/whats-left-of-patagonia/ and between about 1890 and 1940, Magallanes Region became one of the world's most important sheep-raising regions, with one company (Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego) controlling over 10,000 square kilometres in southern Chile and Argentina.

Since the liberalization of Chile's economy

Miracle of Chile

The "Miracle of Chile" was a term used by free market Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman to describe liberal and free market reorientation of the economy of Chile in the 1980s, 1990s and the purported benefits of his style of economic liberalism...

in the 1980s export agriculture, mainly commodity products, grew and diversified. Some products that have reached the international market in huge quantities include salmon

Aquaculture in Chile

, Chilean wine

Chilean wine

Chilean wine is wine made in the South American country of Chile. The region has a long viticultural history for a New World wine region dating to the 16th century when the Spanish conquistadors brought Vitis vinifera vines with them as they colonized the region. In the mid-19th century, French...

, berrie

Berry

The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....

s and fruit.

Norte Grande

Norte Chico

Zona Central

Zona Sur

Zona Austral

History

See also