Land and Resources, Soils

The soils of Argentina vary greatly in fertility and suitability for agriculture, and water is scarce in many areas outside the northeast and the humid Pampas. The Pampas, which are largely made up of a fine sand, clay, and silt almost wholly free from pebbles and rocks, are ideal for the cultivation of cereal. In contrast, the gravelly soil of most of Patagonia, in southern Argentina, is useless for growing crops. The natural grasslands of this region are used primarily as pasture for sheep. Most of the northern Andean foothill region is unsuitable for farming, but several oases favor fruit growing. In part of the Chaco an unusually saline soil is believed to be responsible for the abundance of the tannin-rich quebracho trees.