Síntesis emergética como herramienta de comparación entre dos sistemas de producción agrícola argentinos: chaco seco y pampa ondulada

The agricultural system in Argentina was one of the main drivers of native ecosystems transformation, becoming an important economic activity. The Pampas region has an agricultural tradition of over a century, underpinned by the most fertile soil in the country. But from the 90s on, with the entrance of GM soybean and the very large number of its inputs, this model of industrial agriculture pushed the boundaries of the "core area" toward areas with different environmental characteristics. The proposal of this research is to track all the resources and energy used to produce soybean, transforming them to a common unit, which is solar energy. From this conversion soybean production at a location of the Rolling Pampa (Rojas) may be compared to one at the Chaco Seco (Charata). Indices that provide information on specific features of the process are also calculated. Despite the environmental differences between the two sites associated with greater environmental fragility of the Chaco plain, mainly related to reduced availability of water, high temperatures and slightly less fertile soils than those of the Pampas, virtually no difference was found in regarding the contributions of the environment in both locations. Possible causes of this result are discussed.