'Relocating to Rural Uruguay' Rural Living

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Relocating to Rural Uruguay

My simply-put questions are these:

1. What is rural Uruguayan culture like in regard to sexual orientation and nontraditional agriculture? Here in western Wisconsin neither are the norm by any stretch of the imagination, but neither have raised an eye-brow from my neighbors.

2. What sort of varieties of livestock and vegetables are available in Uruguay – beyond the ‘we eat Herefords breakfast, lunch and, dinner’ that I keep reading? I love Herefords – I grew up on a Hereford farm and indeed this has further endeared me to Uruguay - but I don’t eat much beef and I rather like genetic/economic diversity in a country’s agriculture. My partner and I are hopeless ‘foodies’ - but this should not be interpreted to mean that we are restaurant folk. Rather, for us it’s all about eating close to home, about the growing the right variety of potatoes for each of our favorite dishes, about having organic grass-fed rabbit for hasenpfeffer, about arranging the planting season to ensure that we have both cilantro and basil for spring-rolls in the heat of summer , and about having my favorite variety of winter squash and cauliflower for our winter version of tika masala. Our goal upon relocating to Uruguay is to continue our personal food culture. I have read much about Uruguayans eating bucket loads of red meat, but here in the extreme northern USA it is no different.

3. Also, as I am known for some of the breeds and varieties of chicken I have developed here in the US, and would like to import hatching eggs from them into Uruguay to continue my hobby. How difficult is it to import chickens or hatching eggs into Uruguay? I’d probably be just as content to start with the local indigenous poultry and see what I can create using them as a starting point, but it would be nice to carry some of my current flock forward.

Of course, the more research I do the more questions I have, but being that I like to grow my own food and be connected to the Earth I am clearly not destined for some English speaking urban neighborhood in Punta del Este or Pocitos. So it will be the rural life for me – and many more Spanish lessons. Any guidance or suggestions would be very welcome.

Dan

I'm sure that Patrick will soon answer you with more precise information, since he's also a farmer. But let me try some answers from my vision as an Uruguayan (who's image of country life is mostly made of green fields running fast along a car window... :-) ).

Answering your questions:

1) Uruguay in general is not the Castro, but it is relatively smooth regarding sexual orientation. Preconcepts do exist, but you won't find much open discrimination. Laws have evolved. There's a sort of "civil unions" recognition that asures inheritance rights and other benefits to gay coupples, including the right to adopt children. A few years ago, the President also passed a regulation to asure the rights of gay people at the Army. At this moment, some movement is taking place at the political system to step forward from the "civil union" scheme into plain marriage rights, as in Spain or the UK. Though it would be a matter of "names" rather than actual rights, this still have some resistance, and will presumably go slow. Now, this is the legal system. Law is important, but attitudes, though following the same direction, generally go some steps behind. So, as I said before, Uruguay is not Castro; but I think it would not be much different than middle west USA. The evolution is faster in urban areas, but rural areas follow, specially in the zones with more contact with Montevideo in the South. A hundred years ago, ranch life in Uruguay was similar to what we know about cowboy life in the USA. A lot of lonely gauchos on endless land and a few women at the villages. The culture developed with the traditional machoist schemes, but reality imposed a somehow more "eclectic" sexual behaviour, including bisexual and zoofilic activities. The solution to combine machoism with the actual undercovers sexual practices, was tolerance with a lot of hipocrecy. Some of this sexual culture still remains in the Interior, specially in cattle breathing areas. This makes attitude towards sexual options open, in that it is tolerated, but not so open because homosexuality and bisexuality is not asumed by many of the rural men that practice it. In resume: You won't have problems, people will tolerate you, (specially if you have a stable partner, wich is starting to be socially considered as any other couple). Open gay behaviour would still be more acceptable in close groups of friends than in public.

2)In Uruguay you can raise any kind of lifestock that you would in Wisconsin. Herefords (also Aberdeen Angus, and others) breathing is what Uruguay is known for, but sheep (also different races) are almost as obicuous, and of course you will find pork, rabbit and lesser quantity of goat farms. You can also raise any kind of temperate climate vegetables. Including basil and cilantro for your spring-rolls and coliflower and varieties of squashysquash. You will find that Uruguayans, though meat lovers, also have vegetables at their disposal. One thing is what the country is known for, and another thing is day-to-day meals. The variety and quantity of vegetables eaten, will depend on each one's preferences. Many Uruguayans will stay with the traditional tomato-and-lettuce salad. But you will have plenty of fresh produce to make any salad you like.

3) I have no idea about the different chicken breeds available. Maybe Patrick can help. I've seen different breeds at the "El Prado" annual rural fair than runs in September in Montevideo (you should visit here then!), but for me chicken is generally no more than a breast beaf without skin at the supermarket. I figure out that importing life chicken to start a new breed would mean a lot of paperwork because of the sanitary barreers. We Uruguayans always try to keep away from dealing with burocracy as an acquired survival reaction. So I suggest you to stick to the already introduced varieties. If you like poultry you may even try raising "ñandús" (the southamerican ostrich)! Some people, do.

Regards,

Alberto.

2./ The climate here allows for a broad range of production. Beef cattle are mostly Herefords and Angus. Most dairy cows are "Hollands" (which are called Fresians in the UK and Ireland.) Commercial crops include winter cereals (mostly wheat) and the most popular summer crops are soya, sorghum and maize. This year I've seen a few fields of canola for the first time. Fruit crowing is popular in these parts... various citrus, apples, pears, plums and peaches are the most common and strawberries are grown locally too. We also have a thriving jam industry. Although irrigation isn't common (except for fruit growing, ) it can be extremely useful as summer droughts are not unusual. Most pig, chicken and egg production is done on a smallish scale. Most veggie seeds are available locally.

3./ I can't offer advice about importing fertilized hens' eggs as I've never tried to do it. I reckon you'd need to approach the Ministry of Agriculture to enquire about regulations. There is a ban on importing seeds without a Min of Ag permit but I have had several packets sent from reputable overseas seeds merchants by mail without any trouble thus far.

The climate (plus a bit of irrigation) lends itself to self-sufficiency as it allows you to grow most types on non-tropical crops and offers the opportunity of two crops per annum.

I did learn that it is possible to import hatching eggs and chicks – but as I am up for a change, I will cross that bridge once we are settled. The prospect of gardening or farming in such mild climate is inconceivable to me. In a month’s time we could be experiencing temperatures as low as -28C and be battling six foot snow drifts – and we just harvested the last of our garden last week! We live on a very, very windy site as well, so winters can be especially grueling. I suspect I will have to unlearn much of my nail-chewing, ‘scrambling to prepare for winter’ habits.

Being such a small country, my assumption has been that locating specific heirloom vegetable seeds and heritage livestock in Uruguay will be difficult – unless the Brazil and Argentine borders are not the boundaries I imagine them to be. I suspect that with a climate and agricultural heritage like Uruguay’s, seed savers and gardeners abound. There are some sentimental plant and animal breeding projects that I would like to continue working with in Uruguay, but I am also very interested in becoming ‘Uruguayan’ by way of my garden and the locally grown favorite foods.

Thanks again,

Dan

All Uru farmland is rated on the CONEAT system. There is a gov website giving precise information but I can never get it to work properly. Broadly speaking, the higher the CONEAT number, the better the land.

Farmland prices have rocketed since 2005... especially the quality end. The gov imposed a "temporary" 10% sales tax on farmland back in 2007 and AFAIK its still in force. While farming is always a slow form of poker, good years when the weather is kind, the pests reasonable and the prices high can be particularly rewarding especially as self-employed small farmers are exempt from income tax. I grew a spectacular crop of winter wheat last winter and my soya crop this summer is the envy of my neighbours so it looks like I'll be taking a round the world holiday on the proceeds which is a spectacular result from a mere 30 acres of tillages. :-)

The ROU has a spectacularly high degree of rural electrification mostly because of massive investment post WW II. There are very few places where mains electricity is not available. The supply is constant (with occasional surges and micro power-cuts of 2 to 5 seconds so its wise to have a UPS connected to your PC) but generally speaking, the large UTE workforce ensures rapid repairs after lightning strikes, fallen trees etc.) My former farm in southern England once suffered an 11 day power cut (the supply was privatised and owned by the French) but in the last 5 years, the longest we've suffered here is 2.5 hours. Its so good that I sold my generator :-)

The electricity supply is metered and UTE installs a power trip device alongside it varying from 2.2kW to 7.4kW for domestic supplies. The higher your rating the more you pay but the difference isn't enormous.

Billing is done monthly and the meters are read every two months so one bill in two is estimated. Because there is no postal delivery system in the campo, your bill will be delivered by UTE monthly... mine gets jammed into a slot in the gatepost and arrives by horse during the summertime :-)

Electricity is expensive here. On the standard tariff, the more you use the higher the rates you pay but recently, us rural lifeforms were offered an alternative tariff with 18 hours of cheap electricity and 6 of mega-expensive. It has cut my monthly bill from 3000 pesos to 2000 though I turn off everything I can between 17.00 and 23.00 hours and use a lot of timeclocks.

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