Agriculture and sheep production in the Patagonian Salt Marshes

The intertidal marine coastal plains (approximately one million km₂) and the inland salty lagoons that cover part of the Argentine-Patagonian semidesert were subject of studies that demonstrated the capacity of these environments for human food production, such as vegetables for direct consumption or forage for ruminants. The experiences carried out on the cultivation of halophytes watered with seawater on the South Atlantic coast between the areas located in the Province of Chubut, Argentina, Central Patagonia, with a dry climate with moderate temperatures, and those in the Tierra del Fuego Province, with a subhumid cold temperate climate, have given very promising results. Specifically, the biological and productive parameters of the Salicornia genus and the plant communities that it integrates define it as of high food quality, with 60% of its essential fatty acids in the form of omega 3 and 6 and 13% protein, along with a high potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium content, among other salts. As forage, it was demonstrated that it is possible to obtain working values of 500-700 kg/ha of dry matter, in natural pastures of Salicornia, for the production of sheep meat reduced in cholesterol. These results allow us to rethink traditional agriculture based on irrigation with fresh water and to think about food production systems in high salinity environments, irrigated with seawater. This has allowed it to be proposed as a new production paradigm.