1. Chapter 10
Latin America Today

2. Agriculture
Three-fourths of Latin Americans live in cities, but they still depend on agriculture for a portion of their incomes.
Latin American countries export much of what their farms grow.
Crops for export are bananas, sugarcane, and coffee.

3. Agriculture
Large agricultural estates owned by wealth landowners or corporations are called Latifundias.
These farms are highly mechanized and return huge profits for their owners .
Latifuindias have lower labor costs.

4. Agriculture
Minifundias are small plots of land intensively farmed by rural farmers to feed their families.
Rural farmers are called campesinos.
The campensinos rarely own these farms.
These farms are still owned by wealthy land owners.
Many minifundia owners have been encouraged by governments to combine their lands into cooperatives where the campesinos have small amounts of ownership.
This is still rare and a huge gap still exists between the rich landowning social class and the poor campesino class.

5. Agriculture Cash crops are grown all over Latin America.
They are produced mainly own large latifundias.
Some countries have suitable grasslands to raise livestock like cattle. (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina)
Problems arise when countries depend on one or two large exported cash crops because events like natural disasters can take place that put the entire economy of a country in jeopardy.

6. Industry in Latin America
Most countries in Latin America are developing countries which are countries that are working toward greater manufacturing and technology.
Service industries like banking and restaurants have grown dramatically, but they do not produce goods.

7. Industrial Growth Barriers
Industrial growth is limited by the following factors:
Physical geography
Political instability
Ties to more developed countries

8. The Problem of Maquiladoras
Maquiladoras are factories owned by foreign corporations.
U.S. and Japanese companies are attracted to Latin America because of low labor costs and less strict environmental and worker laws.
Maquiladoras help Latin Americans get more jobs, but the products built rarely help the host country and pollution and labor issues have become problems.

9. Developing Native Industry
Latin American countries are working hard to develop “home-grown” industry.
The countries lack the financial resources to do this, and they are forced to take loans from foreign countries that are hard to pay back and help the loaner countries control Latin American countries.

10. Trade - NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement has made trade easier between the U. S., Canada, and Mexico, but it does not help most Latin American countries.
Labor groups in the U. S. do not like NAFTA because they fear a loss of jobs to Mexico.
NAFTA has helped Mexican companies.
Other Latin American countries are watching Mexico to see if a NAFTA-like agreement would help their country.

11. Transportation and Communications
A huge problem for Latin America is distributing goods and services more efficiently.
There are few good roads or rail systems in Latin America. This isolates the population from receiving basic goods we take for granted.
There are communication systems like phones, television, radio, and internet, but these are mostly limited to big cities.

12. The Environment
Latin American countries are working toward sustainable development.
Sustainable development is technological and economic growth that does not deplete the human and natural resources of a region.
This has been a difficult decision for Latin America. The rain forests have paid the price.

13. Environmental Issues
Deforestation is clearing or destruction of forests.
Rain forests of Latin America are sources for the Earth’s oxygen, plant and animal species, and medicines.
Latin American countries believe they need to clear rain forest to build their economy for farming, ranching, industry, and transportaion.

14. Environmental Issues
Countries around the world have worked to stop clearing of the rain forests, but Latin American countries still face little choice.
Slash-and-burn techniques are used to clear forests.
Slash-and-burn means to cut down all trees, let them dry out, and burn them. The ash from the fires fertilize the soil.
This has proven a temporary fix. Many nutrients are washed away by frequent rain storms.
Within 1 to 2 years, the land is unsuitable for farming or raising livestock because nothing will grow or animals have already eaten all newly planted grasses.
The land is usually totally abandoned in 3 to 4 years.

15. Environmental Issues
More land is now being set aside for conservation.
Reforestation, or the planting of young trees or the seeds of trees, is beginning to be practiced.
Scientists do not know if the damage to Latin American rain forests can be undone.