Harvesting Technology Use and Development in Argentina during the Interwar Period, 1930–45

During the interwar period from 1930 to 1945, Argentina was cut off from the importation of foreign farm technology. Hence, farmers from the Pampas (the breadbasket region of the country) developed their own farm machinery using traditional blacksmithing methods to create “creole” plows, harvesters and thrashers for local farming. In this proposed paper, I examine the shared exchange of know-how and heuristic techniques among local farmers as they shaped harvesters based on local-level farming needs and practices. Metals were also scarce during the interwar period, so, farmers used all chata (abbreviation for “scrap iron”) that they could find in the countryside and re-designed it into usable machinery in their shops. Consequently, these farmers inevitably invented domestic farm machinery best suited to their region’s environmental and soil conditions. The primary contribution of this proposed paper is to show how through their artisan skills and handcrafting, farmer-blacksmiths eventually developed a fully automated combine harvester. Drawing on more than 70 interviews, archival sources, and David Edgerton’s “use” theory, this paper shows how farmers became agents of their own farm machinery use.