A hopeful future for pulses/
Agustina and Rita Villafañe of Argencrops discuss the challenges and opportunities of bean production in Argentina

Could you tell me which are some of the most important pulses and markets for your company?

Agustina: We work with all varieties of beans but, for us, the most important is the alubia bean. We also work with black beans, light/dark red kidney beans and cinnamon beans. There are also cranberry beans, mung beans, sesame and chia seeds.

Rita: We, like the rest of Argentina, work with a lot of beans. In our case, we work with some chickpeas but really the strongest product is beans because our company is in the production zone; the offices and the processing plant all are located here in the north, right in the middle of the production zone. 

Our main markets in Europe are Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. We're also seeing opportunities opening up to us in the Balkans, such as Bulgaria and Romania. Then we have North Africa: Algeria buys from Argentina. In the last few years we've started to see some growth in the south-east Asian market such as the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia but these are relatively new markets for us.

Argencrops is based in Jujuy in the northwestern edge of Argentina. What are the difficulties of being some 1,200km away from the port? How does the product move from Jujuy?

Rita: We work with trucks and trains. One of the disadvantages of being in the production zone, in terms of cost, is the distance of the ports. What's more, logistics in Argentina aren’t simple. Yes, there are trains, some of which reopened in the last few years because some investments were made in infrastructure. The train lines and all the machinery involved were updated, but it still has its limitations, like the availability of carriages.

The other alternative is to use trucks. As you will have heard, logistics are quite costly in Argentina, particularly right now. Land freight used to be much more expensive than maritime but currently maritime freight is 200-300% more expensive than usual, so it isn't easy for productions like ours that are so far away from the ports.

We do have the borders with Chile and Bolivia, which is an option for the Pacific through the Jama Pass to the northern ports of Chile and onto the west coast of America and Southeast Asia. We’ve done a few operations through that route but the issue of cost is still a problem and each operation requires careful analysis.

Do you see these logistical issues changing?

Rita: Yes, I think the problem of maritime logistics will resolve itself and return to normality but not in the short term. For me, and judging by what’s said by others in the industry, there is at least another year of uncertainty with regards to the containers, the cost of freight and the availability of space on boats. Obviously it's a product of the pandemic, so we’ll see how things go.

Then, in the case of domestic logistics, I think that it’s dependent on public policy to improve infrastructure; those issues will resolve themselves. For instance, there was investment in the Belgrano Cargas, the train we use that covers the state, and it improved as a result. It seems to me that if public policy continues to help, which it ought to as it is absolutely necessary, then things will improve. We are not the only industry in the regional economy - there is citrus fruit, cane sugar - all products affected by such high logistical costs.

What effect has the pandemic had on the company and the international market?

Agustina: We had to adapt quite a lot: we started working virtually and we were essential workers given that we worked in the food industry. What the pandemic did bring about for us was digitisation, for example in our documentation and in a lot of operations, which was good for us.

It meant less work. And there is still a lot of bureaucracy in Argentina and these changes made that much, much quicker. On an interpersonal level, we took a lot more care in order to protect our families – this was the most stressful part of our day-to-day changes.

Rita: We never stopped working in Argentina. We had a very long quarantine but thankfully we were able to keep working. In fact, we only stopped for one week during the pandemic in order to adapt our protocols and capacities to prepare for the pandemic. The preparation wasn't easy – there was a lot of uncertainty and a lot of work was required. There were cases within the company and, even though we worked within bubbles, we had months of many illnesses and responsibilities needed to be rotated.

Another positive aspect for our industry was that, as we sell non-perishable products, there was a rise in demand during the pandemic. People began to buy our products and, although the numbers still aren't very clear, it seems to me that there was a growth in demand.

Was there a growth in demand in the Argentinian market as well?

Rita: Yes, there isn't too much information about it because it's not so significant in terms of volume but it's true that there has been growth. It seems to me that it's been a global trend – here in Argentina healthy diets have become more popular as well as diets focused on caring for the environment.

As we know, the carbon footprint of pulse production is very low, as is the use of water. So, consumption has grown and we hope to continue promoting it. Obviously, in Argentina, protein is generally animal-based and plant-based protein isn't so important but, as one of the main producers of plant-based protein in the world, we hope that, with a continuation of this growth, domestic consumption will grow.

What will be the impact of the rise in the price of soy? Could there be a change in acreage in this upcoming seeding?

Rita: The decisions on the seeding are more or less finished here in the north. We have different windows for seeding starting around the middle of January, so we don't have much time left and it finishes around the end of March if all goes well.

For now, the seeding looks more or less the same as it has done in previous years - the thing is, in the bean growing area you can only really grow beans. Maybe in one or two areas here or there, but it’s very limited. You can rotate with soy but the land is more for beans. Obviously there is rotation with corn but that is a question of sustaining the soil. In general, things haven't changed in a long time and there is very little opportunity to expand.

How do you think pulse consumption within Argentina can be encouraged?

Agustina: Well, we've been doing workshops called ‘Cocinando con Legumbres’ (Cooking with Pulses), explaining to chefs in various cafés and restaurants here in Jujuy. We work with a well-known local chef to explain the possibilities of cooking with pulses, not just traditional dishes like stews but all kinds of new recipes. We couldn't do it last year during the pandemic but it really had an effect and increased pulse consumption locally. People started to call us to find out how they could cook the recipes – we were able to get people much more interested in pulses.

Rita: We worked with the Cámara de Legumbres de la República Argentina (Argentine Chamber of Pulses) and food banks who told us that people who came to the food banks didn’t choose to eat pulses. This was how our work started. We asked ourselves why people weren't choosing pulses and it was because people didn't know how to cook with them. We had workshops with nutritionists that were very successful - I think education is very important, as is social media, in order to reach younger consumers. 

What are some of Argencrops’s goals for the future?

Rita: We’re working on a variety of projects: for example, we already have a very high level of certification in our processing plant but we are very close to upgrading the certification of food quality and safety. This will mean investments and infrastructure, improvements in our lines and in the processing plant itself.

Agustina: Also, improvements in human resources - in our staff and increased capacity.

Rita: Yes, for us, investment in human resources is key: that the people who work with our pulses know the importance of preserving their safety and quality so they are able to better attend to our clients around the world. We’re also working on projects in the medium term with the development of added value products, such as plant-based food. We have worked with laboratories in England and Spain on plant-based foods and the idea is to bring out a line of these products soon.