Refrigerators in Patagonia: the boom that transformed the meat industry

The Patagonian steppe holds in its silence the echo of a formidable industrial boom that changed the landscape, the economy, and the social relations of the region. We are talking about the boom of the slaughterhouses in Argentine and Chilean Patagonia—the industry of the slaughter, transport, and export of sheep meat—that, from the late years of the 19th century until the first half of the 20th century, left an irreplaceable mark. From wool farming to frozen meat As a prelude, sheep farming had taken a central place in Patagonia: the breeding of sheep for wool formed part of what is called the Patagonian sheep-farming boom. But the surplus of animals—and the difficulties in finding a market for them—pushed the change towards a more complex industry: frozen meat and slaughterhouses. According to sources from the time, at the beginning, when "the territory began to be populated," the first ranchers only had as an outlet the very limited local consumption of animals or some ...