Argentina: Pistachio poses new opportunities and challenges

In recent years, pistachios have become an essential food for consumers seeking a healthier diet and are a trendy and innovative ingredient in regional gastronomy. The high demand for pistachios and the limited local supply partly explain the high prices that production reaches, higher than that of other nuts such as walnuts and almonds. The pistachio tree has many characteristics that make it a special crop. One of its peculiarities is that it requires arid environments with cold winters and very warm summer periods. There are few growing areas in the world where it can be developed, these are: the Middle East, the United States, Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia and Argentina. Pistachio production is relatively new in Argentina. The first plantations took place in San Juan at the end of the 1980s, when the first seeds were sown, but it was not until the mid-1990s with the regulation of the National Law 22.021 on tax deferrals that the commercial development of the crop took place ...