Argentina / Chile Wine Tour

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Argentina farming tour Best Lands Route Welcome to the Best Lands Route. We propose a tour across the best soils in Argentina and one of the best in the world. The humid pampas, the “zona núcleo”, the grain belt in Argentina; where thousands of immigrants in the last century made this country the world’s granary.

Day 1 – Sunday : China / Buenos Aires Arrive in Buenos Aires Meet your Chinese speaking guide and transfer to the Hotel Evening: Welcome dinner Overnight Buenos Aires

Day 2 – Monday : Buenos Aires: Buenos Aires / Rosario - BLD 08:00 h Morning: meeting with members of AACREA (1). The Argentinean Association of CREA (Regional Consortiums of Agricultural Experimentation) is a non profit private organization of farmers who work in small groups to improve each farming enterprise. The whole association is formed by more than 2000 medium and big farmers who work in technological development in agricultural production. They will talk about their experience in grains and cattle beef 10:00 h Depart to Rosario (2) (300 km) 12:00 h Lunch 15:00 h Meeting with a rural contractor, who rent many farms to plant, harvest and manage. Visit the field to see the condition of crops, visit the farm machinery area to see the farming machinery (tractors, combines, seeders, sprayers, etc)

18:00 h Arrive in Rosario / Overnight Rosario

Day 3 – Tuesday: Rosario / Roldan / Armstrong / Rosario - BL 09:00 h Visit a seed production company specialized in soybean 11:00 h Continue to Armstrong 12:00 h Lunch 14:00 h Visit a planters company, specialized in no-till farming equipment. 16:00 h Return to Rosario 17:30 h Arrive in Rosario / Overnight Rosario

Day 4 - Wednesday: Rosario / San Lorenzo / Pergamino - BL 07:30 h Depart to San Lorenzo 09:00 h Visit a grain export port. (3) 10:30 h Return to Rosario 12:00 h Visit the Rosario Board of Trade (4) 13:00 h Lunch at the Board of Trade 15:00 h Visit the ACA (Argentine Cooperatives Association) (5) 17:00 h Depart to Pergamino 18:30 h Arrive in Pergamino / Overnight Pergamino

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Day 5 – Thursday: Pergamino - BL 10:00 h Morning: visit a company who produce and export inoculants and seed therapies. Meetings with technicians; technical seminar 12:00 h Lunch 15:00 h Afternoon farm visit: grains in no-till farming and precision agriculture

Overnight Pergamino

Day 6 - Friday: Pergamino / Chacabuco / Buenos Aires - BLD 08:00 h Depart to Chacabuco 09:00 h Visit an Agriculture Cooperative / meeting with directors / visit the facilities 11:00 h Farm visit: we will visit the farm of a member of the cooperative 13:00 h Lunch 15:00 h Continue to Buenos Aires 17:00 h Arrive in Buenos Aires (5) 20:00 h Evening Tango Show and Farewell diner (6)

Overnight Buenos Aires

Day 7 - Saturday: Buenos Aires - BL 09:00 h Business network 13:00 h Lunch at Puerto de Frutos (Tigre) or China Town Buenos Aires 15:00 h Business network 17:00 h Wines and Cheese tasting Overnight Tango Show Buenos Aires

Participation in this business network will allow you to get in touch directly with agribusiness and food companies potentially interested in developing business in this market.

Day 8 - Sunday: Buenos Aires - BL 09:00 h Morning city tour 13:00 h Lunch at Puerto Madero waterfront Free afternoon Evening: Optional Futbol match Overnight Buenos Aires

Day 9 – Monday: Buenos Aires - B Transfer to the Airport to take the flight back home.

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(1) AACREA - Argentine Association of Regional Consortiums for Agricultural Experimentation AACREA is a non - profit institution registered as such under Argentine law. It was founded in 1960, and is the

mother organization of about 200 CREA groups throughout Argentina, divided int o 18 different ecological and productive regions. The CREA groups and their organization are commonly referred to as the CREA Movement. The essence of the movement lies in its methodology of teamwork, of small groups of farmers and technicians known as CREA groups, what stands for Regional Consortiums for Agricultural Experimentation. The objective of the Association is to promote the technological and managerial development of its members, striving, through participative methods, to attain the all-round improvement of producers, technicians, and the rural community as a whole.

(2) After Buenos Aires City and sharing second place with Córdoba, Rosario has become one of the most important urban centers in the country, demonstrated by its municipal, commercial, and port progress along with its economical development. Its history, therefore, tells us of its slow progression, as Rosario is one of the few cities in Argentina that was not founded formally. It originated and grew at the mouth of the Ludeña River in the Paraná. In 1725, Francisco Godoy and his people established the area under the name of Nuestra Señora del Rosario. Around this nucleus the city developed very gradually, and in1823 was only considered a village by legal terms. It finally received its title as an official city in 1852 by the provincial government. It was in this city that General Manuel Belgrano created the Argentine flag in 1812 by the shores of the Paraná river. The city is a major railroad terminal and the shipping center for northeastern Argentina. Ocean steamers reach the city via the Paraná River, which allows the existence of a 34-feet deep port. The Port of Rosario is subject to silting and must be dredged periodically. Exports include wheat, flour, hay, linseed and other vegetable oils, corn, sugar, lumber, meats, hides, and wool. Manufactures include flour, sugar, meat products, and other foodstuffs. A bridge running over the Paraná River to connect Rosario with the city of Victoria across the Paraná Delta.

(3) The Ports of Rosario region are an inland ports and a major goods-shipping centre of Argentina. There are 18 ports located across 90 km between Timbúes and Villa Constitución, on the right-hand (western) shore of the Paraná River, about 550 km upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Bi-Oceanic Corridor that joins the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean via Buenos Aires, Rosario, Córdoba, the Cuyo region and Valparaíso, Chile; going north-south it forms the axis of the Paraguay-Paraná Hydroway. It directly services the area of Santa Fe that produces a large part of Argentine exports, and indirectly the whole Mercosur trade bloc. At this point of the course of the Paraná (Kilometer 420) lies the depth transition between overseas and river navigation. The main channel of the river directly in front of the port has an advantageous configuration that allows preserving a depth of 34 feet with minor periodic dredging. This allows for downstream navigation of vessels up to Panamax kind. The Paraná is about 600 m wide at Kilometer 418 and becomes 2,000 m wide downstream.

(4) The Rosario Board of Trade (Spanish: Bolsa de Comercio de Rosario, BCR) is a non-profit making association based in Rosario, in the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina. Founded on August 18, 1884, it serves as a forum for the conduct of

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International Tours & Meetings Operator – Founded in 1944 Head Office - Maipú 640 – CP 2000 Rosario – ARGENTINA - Tel. +54-341-4216524 - Fax +54-341-4287818 [email protected] – www.argentinaagribusinesstours.com trade negotiations in several markets including grain, oilseed, agricultural products and their by-products, as well as securities and other assets. The Physical Grain Market of the BCR is the most important in Argentina in terms of its volume of operations, and provides reference prices for the national and international markets. Most of the country's production of cereals and oilseeds is traded within it, especially soybean. The region around Rosario contains the world’s largest concentrations oil seed crushing plant; and its ports handle more than 90% of the Argentine export of soybean and its derivatives. The Rosario Futures Exchange (ROFEX) has traditionally been a futures Exchange for commodities and, in more recent times, for financial products such as exchange rate and interest rate options. Its negotiated volume (especially in forwards contracts over dollars) makes ROFEX the largest futures market in the country. The Rosario Stock Exchange operates with stockholders dealing negotiable assets of all kinds. The Board of Trade additionally operates a complex of laboratories which analyze and provide quality certifications for samples of agricultural products, soil and water.

(5) The Argentine Cooperatives Association (ACA) is a cooperative of cooperatives founded on 16th. February, 1922. It has its headquarters in the city of Buenos Aires, and it comprises 160 primary cooperatives from the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Entre Ríos and La Pampa. . With branches and subsidiaries in the cities of Rosario, Bahía Blanca, Córdoba, Tres Arroyos, Necochea, Pergamino, Santa Fe, Junín, General Pico and Paraná, it also has an active presence in the major cities of the country. The Argentine Cooperatives Association has two fundamental objectives: - The commercialization of the farming production, including industrialization and annexed services such as logistics, ports, financing, among others. - The second objective is the provision of all inputs that farmers need for their activity.

(6) Buenos Aires is one of the world’s biggest cities in which, including the suburbs, there are over 11,000,000 inhabitants. It is also the most elegant and active city in South America and the one that summarizes the heterogeneous essence of Argentines the best. With a modern, hip structure and dynamic activity, it has managed to preserve old traditions and endearing corners. Visitors feel fascinated because of its environment, because neighborhoods have all different personalities, and also because people are warm and there is a wide range of shopping and cultural proposals. Buenos Aires is surrounded by the splendid Argentine nature and it is the great cosmopolitan door to South America.

(7)Tango came into being in the 19th century from the combination of different styles danced in the poor areas of the town. In the beginning it was danced by male couples and played with a flute, a violin and a guitar. Flute was later on replaced by a type of accordion called “bandoneón”, which ultimately gave tango its distinctive hallmark. Tango developed with the nostalgia and melancholy contributed by immigrants, and gave rise to most important songwriters and performers such as Astor Piazzolla and Aníbal Troilo. The greatest tango singer of all times has always been and will always be Carlos Gardel. There is a tourist itinerary that evokes the importance of the so called “Zorzal Criollo” (Creole Thrush) in the life of Buenos Aires. The tour includes his house, turned now into a museum, in the Abasto neighborhood (where he lived from 1927 to 1933), his mausoleum at the Chacarita cemetery, the Hipódromo Argentino (Argentine Course for Horse Races) in Palermo very frequently attended by Gardel who was keen on turf, the Luna Park Stadium (the greatest boxing venue where his wake was held), and the Tortoni Café, where Gardel sang during an evening tribute to Luigi Pirandello. The Academia Nacional del Tango (National Tango Academy) is run on the first floor of this historic café. In 2009, the tango was incorporated on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

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