A Peripheral Mediterranean: The Early «Fruit Industry» in Chile (1910-1940)

This article analyzes the development of Chile’s fruit-growing sector in the first decades of the twentieth century, and explains why it did not become the competitive export sector that Chilean growers and agrarian experts envisioned as a «South American California». The article uses newly-found sources, including reports on individual orchards in agricultural journals, market studies by trade experts, and theses from the Instituto Agronómico. First, the article provides an overview of the grower community and sketches out the large and diverse Chilean fruit belt, also tracing the expansion of fruit production until 1935. It then examines farming practices, illustrating to what extent growers had advanced -or failed- in creating a modern fruit industry. Finally, the paper discusses critical issues that Chilean growers faced as newcomers in the domestic and international fruit markets. The article concludes that Chilean growers —who for the most part were not large landowners— operated in a «peripheral» Mediterranean agriculture, both geographically and in terms of economic development. Far away from the large international markets, they needed a complex infrastructure to grow and export high-quality fruits. Yet, lack of capital prevented growers from developing specialized orchards, while the country’s general low level of economic development meant that the fruit sector had limited availability of scientific horticultural knowledge, appropriate packing methods, and transportation for fresh fruit.