Chile as an agricultural investment destination

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Even the relatively “dull and drab” parts of Chile are  beautiful from the outstanding Andes to the lakes and rivers below.

I have been most of the worlds countries, including extended visits to Spain, France, Italy, England, Canada and the US, Australia and New Zealand, and have seen all the best spots in each, and I believe Chile to at least as  beautiful if not more so.

Why Chile is so often neglected by tourists and expatriates compared to other countries is a mystery to me. Chile is a wonderful, modern, civilized place. It is a great country to live in as the free market reforms continue to spur strong economic growth.

Chile is a country of sprawling, magnanimous, diverse and ubiquitous beauty, and there is no place quite like it. It’s ironic that one of the ‘dullest’ places in Chile looks like California’s Central Valley. Imagine being in a country where the ‘ugliest’ part looks like central California!

So where is this paradise? The southern Central Valley is found from Los Andes, about 100 miles north of Santiago, down to Los Angeles, about 350 miles south of Santiago.  It is basically a mirror image of California’s Central Valley from Bakersfield up to Red Bluff.

In this “Central Valley” of Chile, everything is grown. There are plenty of cows, chickens, pigs, horses and other livestock (mainly sheep and goats), too. Dairy is big business. Wine is an even bigger business. Oranges, pears, apples, avocados, cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, grapes, watermelons, etc.

The climate is very nice too, with long hot  summers.

A person who likes central California’s scenery and weather ought to consider enjoying some choice property near Chile’s heartland of agricultural production. Great places to live and farm can be found within 2-3 hours of Santiago’s supplies, services, and great medical care.

But the most important aspect of the Chilean heartland is that it can be had for reasonable prices. Bear in mind, this is a developed, first world country… but you’re not paying first world prices.

In Chile, the thing to always remember is that water rights are separate to land rights; in other words, you purchase a property, and often have to separately purchase water rights.

Chile has a market-based system to allocate water rights for a collective body of water– the owners of all the properties which border the river get together and bid for rights to a certain volume of water, essentially a certain number of litres per minute that they can take from the river.

If one farmer expects to use more water, he or she must bid more. If the river has a limited capacity and demand for the water rights exceeds the river’s supply, then the price goes up… that’s how the market works. In this way, you can be use that the water will be put to its most economic use.

Furthermore, these water rights are held in a separate title and can be bought, sold, and transferred just like title to property. Typically, water rights and land rights are sold together in a package… but not always.

This system is quickly becoming the standard that many other countries are adopting to allocate their water rights– one of the many ways that Chile is becoming a model to the world.

Contact the Gateway to South America team to learn about the best investment opportunities in the region. The company is a benchmark for foreign investors wishing to invest in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, providing expert advice on property acquisition and investment tours.

www.gatewaytosouthamerica.com

Post available in: English